




























^O^c? 




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THE MAKING OF A STATE 



A SCHOOL HISTORY OF UTAH 




By Orson F. Whitney 



Salt Lake City, Utah 

THE DESERET NEWS 

1908 






LIBHAhfY of OONGRESS.I 

SEP 4 }^QH 

UOPY a. 



Copyright, iqoS. 



Preface. 

In the prospectus of this work the author an- 
nounced his intention to prepare a History of 
Utah suitable for use in the grammar grades of 
the public schools. A text book for children, it was 
to be plain, simple, and direct in diction, a story briefly 
and tersely told, dealing fairly and impartially with 
all classes and persons concerned. In fulfillment of 
that promise, this little volume is sent forth. 

Of necessity, the historical narrative is very much 
abridged, yet care has been taken to include all es- 
sential facts and features, especially those of a perma- 
nent character, educative and elevating in their influ- 
ence, and closely connected with flie founding and de- 
velopment of the State. 

The author is indebted, for many helpful sugges- 
tions, to the Right Reverend F. S. Spalding, of the 
Episcopal Church ; to D. H. Christensen, Superintend- 
ent of the Salt Lake City Public Schools ; and to 
(icorge M. Marshall, A. M., Professor of English 



IV 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Language and Literature in the University of Utah. 
These gentlemen, to whom the manuscript was read 
prior to publication, have expressed their approval of 
the work and of the spirit in which it is written. 

The mechanical appearance of the book speaks for 
itself and for the publishers — the Deseret News — 
the originators of the History project, and the owners 
of the business enterprise, 

ORvSOn F. Whitney. 

Salt Lake City, Utah, 
August, 1908. 




Table of Contents. 

PAGE 

1. The Great American Desert. (1540-1847) ... 1 

2. The Pioneers. (1847-1849.) 14 

3. The State of Deseret. (1849-1851.) 31 

4. The Territorial Government. (1850-1853)... 46 

5. Growth and Development. (1852-1856.) 56 

6. An Indian Uprising. (1853-1855) 69 

7. A Year of Calamities. (1856.) 82 

8. Utah Under Martial Law. (1857.) , 94 

9. The Echo Canyon War. (1857-1858.) 105 

10. The Camp Floyd Period. (1858-1861.) 118 

11. "Utah Has Not Seceded." (1861-1862.) 127 

12. During- the Civil War. (1862-1865.) 137 

13. Later in the "Sixties." (1865-1869.) 150 

14. The Pacific Railroad. (1863-1869.) 162 

15. What the Railroad Brought. (1869-1873.) ... 173 

16. Last Years of Brigham Young. (1870-1877.) 194 

17. Strife and Storm. (1880-1888.) 214 

18. Rifts in the Cloud. (1886-1890.) 228 

19. Preparing for Statehood. (1890-1895.) 241 

20. The Forty-fifth State. (1896-1897.) 255 

21. Since the Jubilee. (1898-1908.) 269 

22. The Lidustrial Phase 28S 

23. The Industrial Phase. (Continued.) 303 




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The Making of a State 

A School History of Utah. 



1. The Great American Desert. 

1540—1847. 

The Great Basin. West of the Rocky Mountains 
there is a broad stretch of arid country called ''The 
Great Basin." This name was given to it by Fremont, 
the explorer. It was the driest and most desolate 
part of a region known to our fathers and grand- 
fathers as ''The Great American Desert." That des- 
ert was thought to extend from the Missouri River to 
the Pacific Ocean. 

The Great Basin lies between the AX'asatch and 
the Sierra Nevada mountains. It spreads five or 
six hundred miles east and west, and eight or nine 
hundred miles north and south. It narrows on the 
south into Lower California,* and on the north 
in the direction of the Blue Mountains of Oregon. 
Though sometimes described as a plain or plateau, it 
is far from level. Much of it is broken and irregular. 
The country is crossed, mostly north and south, by 



*The Great Basin, as commonly known, does not extend that far 
south. The dimensions given above are based upon latest scientific 
explorations and surveys. 



ATLANTIC DR^J^AG-t 







Map of the Great Basin and its Lakes. 



THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. 3 

many small ranges and ridges of hills, and in it are s 
number of lakes or sinks, the waters of which have no 
visible outlet. The altitude of much the larger part 
of the Basin is about four thousand feet above the 
level of the ocean. 

Lake Bonneville. The remains of ancient beaches 
and river deltas found here, show that the whole 
of this wide, dry area — in which is much of the State 
of Utah and nearly all the State of Nevada — was once 
the bed of an inland sea. The remnants of that sea are 
the lakes or sinks mentioned. The most important 
one is the Great Salt Lake, sometimes called ''The 
Dead Sea of America.'' The larger body of water that 
once existed here, or rather, the bed that it once oc- 
cupied, is known as a fossil sea, and has been named 
Lake Bonneville in honor of an early explorer. 

Western Utah in the Basin. Only the western part 
of Utah is in the Great Basin. The W^asatch Moun- 
tain range and its southern extension of hills and 
plateaus divide the State into two unequal sec- 
tions. East of that natural wall are the Green and 
Grand river valleys, while to the west are the Great 
Salt Lake and its neighboring desert ; the former 
wholly within Utah, the latter extending into Nevada. 

The Great Salt Lake. The Great Salt Lake is one 
of the most interesting natural objects in all the West. 
It is about sevcnty-iive miles long, nearly fifty miles 
wide, and in places, forty to fifty feet deep. Jutting 
up from its surface is a group or chain of mountain 
islands, almost as high as the rugged ranges to the 
south and west of them. The Lake, as stated, has no 
visible outlet. Its waters, which are eight times 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



E^W«S 




brinier than 
those of the 
ocean, and con- 
sequently f a r 
mo r e buoyant, 
evaporate to tlie 
clouds or sink 
into the earth. 
Owing to the 
intense saltness 
of these waters, 
fish cannot live 
in them. They 

were once sup- ^^'^^^^ Shrimp. 

posed tc:» have no life, but a small brine shrimp 
and three kinds of insects have been found therein. 

Jordan River and Utah Lake. Into the Great Salt 
Lake flows the Jordan River, a narrow, w^inding 
stream, the outlet of Utah Lake, forty miles south- 
ward. The connection of these two lakes, one salt 
and the other fresh, by a river, added to the general 
character of the country, has led many to compare 
LTah with the Land of Palestine. 

Other Lakes. Most of the lakes of Utah are in the 
north. Of the fresh water bodies, Utah Lake and 
Bear Lake are the most notable. Bear Lake is part- 
ly in Idaho. Sevier Lake is a shallow, brackish sink 
in Central Utah, and Little Salt Lake, a smaller sheet 
farther south. The rivers that feed these natural res- 
ervoirs are formed mainly by melted snows flowing 
from the mountains. Away up near the snow-capped 
summits are still smaller fresh lakes, from which flow 



THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. 5 

clear, ice-cold waters, tumbling over high cliffs, form- 
ing beautiful cascades, falling into deep ravines, into 
deeper gorges called canyons, and finally flowing out 
upon the thirsty, sun-parched plains. Hot and warm 
mineral springs, with healing waters, gush forth in 
places at the foot of snow-crowned ranges. 

Scarcity of Water and Timber. Scarcity of timber 
and fresh water, more than anything else, has re- 
tarded the growth and development of this part of our 
country. Trees are found only in the mountains and 
along the water courses, which are few and far be- 
tween. In the canyons are groves of cottonwood, 
quaking-asp, maple, cedar, and pine, and during spring 
and early summer grasses and wild flowers cover the 
sides of the ravines. But the valleys, when they were 
first settled, save for light fringes of verdure along the 
streams, had neither groves nor grass to hide their 
nakedness. Like the sun-burnt hill-sides, they were 
either utterly bare, or clothed with sagebrush, sun- 
flowers, and other wild growths, withering in the heat 
of the sun. The land, in spite of its dryness, is one of 
nch.and varied resources. 

Fertile Spots. Along the bases of the hills the soil is 
naturall}^ productive, and when irrigated brings forth 
abundantly. In other places it is either pure desert, 
hopelessly barren, or so mixed with salt and alkali 
that cultivation is almost impossible. The most pro- 
ductive parts are Utah Valley, Cache Valley and that 
portion of Salt Lake Valley now in Davis County. 
The best watered section is the Green River country, 
but the water there is not as available as it is in other 
sections. 



6 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Climate. The climate of Utah is healthful and de- 
lightful. The mountains around the valleys ward ofT 
the keen wintry winds, while the rarity of the high 
atmosphere modifies the summer heat. The State is 
in the North Temperate Zone, but the climate in the 
south-western part — the Valley of the Rio Virgen — is 
semi-tropical. The general climatic conditions are 
favorable to the production of a brave, intelligent, vig- 
orous and progressive people. 

Scenery. The Utah scenery will compare with any 
in the world. Here are mountains as grand as the 




Sunset on the Lake. 

Alps of Switzerland, and sunsets as gorgeous as those 
of Italy and Greece. In the south are mammoth 
stone bridges and giant monoliths, master-works of 
Nature, worthy to be classed with the wonders 
of all time. Our lakes and canyons will always be a 
source of delight to poets, painters, and lovers of the 
beautiful. 



THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. 



First Dwellers. Who were the first dwellers in the 
desert — the earliest to inhabit this once lonely and 
desolate land? So far as known, they were the rov- 
ing red men, or perhaps the Cliff-dwellers, a strange 
and interesting people of whom little is known. They 
may or may not have been Indians. The remains 
of their work are seen in the recesses of the 
rocks in Southern Utah and other parts. They were 
here long before the savage tribes that were found by 
the Pioneers. After one of these latter tribes — the 
Utes or Utahs — our State is named. 

The Ute Indians. The Utes were a degraded peo- 
ple, who dwelt in caves and wigwams, and lived 
mainly by fishing and hunting. Part of their food 
was wild roots dug from the ground, and nuts and 

berries picked from 
bushes growing by the 
mountain streams. They 
also ate crickets and 
grasshoppers (locusts), 
and even devoured the 
snakes that hissed and 
rattled among the hot 
rocks of hill and plain. 
The crickets were driven 
by swarms into fires and 
roasted. The grasshop- 
pers were dried in the 
sun, and pounded into 
meal, from which cakes 
w^ere made. They were 
said to be tasteful, and 
A Dancing Ute. .. ^. ^^^^ ^^ ^^1 unwholesome, 




8 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

even to white men who at times were feasted upon 
them, not knowing of wdiat they were composed. The 
Ute Indians w^ere w^arlike, and fierce at times w^ere 
their fights even among themselves. Their most 
hated foes were the Shoshones, wdio roamed over a 
region east and north of the Great Salt Lake, while 
the Utes inhabited the country south. On both sides 
there were bra^ve and noble w^arriors who were a 
credit to the red race. 

First White Visitors. Probably the first white 
men to visit the Utah region were a small party 
of Spaniards, soldiers in the army of Coronado, the 
explorer of New Mexico. He was at Cibola (now 
Zuni) in 1540, and hearing of a great river to the 
northwest, he sent Captain Cardenas w^ith twelve men 
to explore it. That river w^as the Colorado. Carde- 
nas came to the south bank, just within Utah's pres- 
ent southern boundary, but did not cross the river, 
and soon returned to Cibola. 

Escalante and Dominguez. The next white 
men to come this way were two Franciscan friars, 
Spanish officials of New Mexico. Utah was then 
part of Mexico, and Mexico belonged to Spain. In 
July, 1776, — the same month and year that the 
Declaration of Independence was signed — Father 
Escalante and Father Dominguez, the two friars men- 
tioned, set out from Santa Fe, with seven men, to find 
a direct route to Monterey, on the California sea 
coast. Pursuing a northwesterly course and cross- 
ing the Wasatch Mountains, they came upon the 
headwaters of Provo River, and follow^ed that 
stream down to ITtah Lake. Thcv were kindiv re- 



THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. 9 

ceived by the native 'ATitas/' and were told of a 
valley to the northward in which was a large salt 
lake. But they could learn nothing of a route to the 
sea, nor of white settlers in all the surrounding re- 
gion. North of Utah Valley they did not go. Turn- 
ing to the southwest, they visited the valley that 
now bears the name of Escalante. There, their food 
supplies giving out, they became discouraged, and re- 
turned, by way of the Colorado River and the Moquis 
Indian villages, to Santa Fe. 

Fremont, the "Pathfinder.'* Captain John C. Fre- 
mont, who was called the "Pathfinder," claimed the 
honor of discovering the Great Salt Lake in 1843, 
when he passed the Rocky Mountains, on his second 
exploring expedition to the A\>st. The year before 
he had come only as far as South Pass, a great natural 
gateway through the mountains. With the noted 
scout, "Kit" Carson, and other daring spirits, he now 
entered the Great Basin, and on the sixth of Septem- 
ber, from a point a little north of Weber River, caught 
his first glimpse of ''America's Dead Sea." He ex- 
plored Fremont Island, ahd believed himself to be the 
first white man to launch a boat upon this remarkable 
body of water. The Lake, however, had been discov- 
ered, and boats launched upon it, many years before 
the "Pathfinder" appeared upon the scene. 

The Fur-Hunters. Early in the nineteenth cen- 
tury this region had been overrun by British and 
American fur-hunters. One of these, James Bridger, 
commonly known as Colonel Bridger, is said to have 
discovered the Great Salt Lake in 1825. He was trap- 
ping on Bear River, and to decide a wager as to the 



10 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

probable course of that stream, followed it through 
the mountains till he stood on the shore and tasted 
the salt waters of the inland sea. So little was known 
of the Great West that the Lake w^as supposed to be 
an arm of the Pacific Ocean. "^ 

Captain Bonneville. In 1832-3 came Captain Bon- 
neville, whose adventures in these parts were de- 
scribed by the eminent x^merican writer, Washington 
Irving.t Bonneville was a United States army ofificer 
on leave. He brought twenty wagons, loaded with 
Indian goods, provisions, and ammunition, across the 
Rocky Mountains, and is thought to have been the 
first to use ox teams on this line of travel. 

Missionaries and Emigrants. As early as 1834 
parties of missionaries, men and women, crossed the 
country to the Pacific Coast, and before that time a 
few American emigrants had settled in Oregon. But 
it was not until about 1841 that emigrant companies 
began to come regularly across the continent. Most 
of these went to Oregon, which then included Wash- 
ington, Idaho, and other parts. California, embrac- 



*Colonel Bridger built, on Black's Fork of Green River, the sec- 
ond permanent trading post on the overland route. It was called 
Fort Bridger, and was nothing more than a double log house, sur- 
rounded by a stockade of logs. The site it occupied is now in South 
western Wyoming. There Bridger held lands under a grant from 
the government of Mexico. 

Other names now borne by various objects in this region were 
the names of trappers and traders who figured here in early times. 
Among them was Peter Skeen Ogden, of the Hudson Bay Company, 
and William N. Ashley, whose name clings to Ashley's Fork. Ash- 
ley christened Green River after one of his party, and Weber 
and Provo rivers were named for trappers on those streams. 

tirving renamed the Great Salt Lake, Lake Bonneville, but his- 
tory would not sanction it, preferring that the ancient fossil sea 
should bear that name. 



THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. 11 

ing Utah and Nevada, belonged to Mexico, while Ore- 
gon was claimed both by Great Britain and the Unit- 
ed States. 

The Overland Route. Westward travel over the 
plains usually started from Independence, Missouri, 
which was then on the frontier of our nation. 
Each family had one or more covered wagons, loaded 
with provisions and supplies. As a rule the wagons 
were drawn by oxen, and it required four or five 
months to cross the plains and mountains to the sea. 
They traveled up the Platte River, along the Sweet- 
water, and through South Pass, now in Wyoming. 
West of that point those going to Oregon would turn 
north, while those bound for California would follow 
Bear River to w^ithin a few miles of the Great Salt 
Lake, and then cross the country to the Sierras. 

The Donner Party. One of those early emigrant 
companies was the Donner Party, which met a tragic 
fate. There were about eighty-seven in the com- 
pany, men, women, and children. The leaders were 
George Donner and James F. Reed. They left In- 
dependence late in April, or early in May, 1846, and in 
July reached Eort Bridger. There they tarried four 
days and then set out for California. The usual route 
from Fort Bridger was through Echo and Weber can- 
yons and along the northern shore of the Great Salt 
Lake ; but another route, which was just beginning 
to be traveled, avoided Weber Canyon, passed over 
the mountains and along the southern shore. This 
was called "The Hastings Cut-ofT." Knowing it to 
be a difficult route, a friend of Mr. Reed's had writ- 
ten from California, warning him not to take it, 



12 THE MAKING OF A STyVTE. 

but to travel by way of Fort Hall, now in Idaho. 
That letter he never received, and was persuaded at 
Fort Bridger to follow the new trail. 

The journey was a hard one. It took sixteen days 
to cut a road through the mountains into Salt Lake 
Valley. Then came the crossing of the western des- 
ert, where many of their cattle died for want of grass 
and water, wliile others w^ere lost, or stolen by In- 
dians. Some of the wagons had to be left behind. 
Delayed by these and other misfortunes, the party 
did not strike the main trail on the Humboldt River 
until late in September, after the last companies of the 
season had gone by. Another month brought them 
to Truckee Pass, at the eastern foot of the Sier- 
ras. Early snows now came, blocking up the way. 
Some killed their cattle and went into winter quarters, 
while others delayed building their cabins until 
heavier snows fell. 

A Tragic Fate. It was now December, their pro- 
visions were almost gone, and starvation stared the 
unfortunate travelers in the face. Some of the party, 
putting on snow-shoes, crossed the stormy mountains 
to New Helvetia, now Sacramento. Before reaching 
there, several died from cold and hunger, and the oth- 
ers, to save themselves, ate the flesh of the dead. Re- 
lief parties were sent back to the main company, and 
most of them were saved ; but thirty-nine of the origi- 
nal eighty-seven perished. The survivors, when 
found, had been living for weeks like cannibals. The 
last one rescued was picked up in April, 1847. 

No White Settlers. Up to that time there were no 
Dcniiancnt white settlers in the Great Basin, — onlv a 



THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT. 13 

few rough mountaineers, living in lonely log forts, 
with their Indian wives and half-breed children. They 
hunted the bear, trapped the beaver, traded with the 
Indians, and acted as guides to emigrant trains or 
chance travelers to and from the western ocean. Sev- 
eral thousand Americans had settled among Spaniards 
and Indians along the Pacific Coast, but none had set- 
tled here. Salt Lake Valley was a spot desired by 
none, shunned by all. 

"A Vast, Worthless Area." A\diat was thought, at 
that time, of the ^^>st. by the people of the East, was 
told in a speech by Daniel Webster on the floor of«the 
United States Senate. Someone had proposed that 
the Government establish a mail route from Inde- 
pendence, Missouri, to the mouth of the Columbia 
River. Mr. A\^ebster opposed the movement in these 
words: AVhat do we w^ant with this vast, worthless 
area? This region of savages and wild beasts, of des- 
erts, of shifting sands and whirl-winds of dust, of cac- 
tus and prairie dogs? To what use could we ever 
hope to put these great deserts, or those endless 
mountain ranges ?" 

Yet it was to the very heart of ''this vast, worthless 
area, this region of savages and wild beasts," that the 
Pioneers of Utah made their way. Here, upon Mexi- 
can soil, in the midst of the Great American Desert, 
they lifted the Stars and Stripes and laid the founda- 
tions of an. American State. 



14 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



2. The Pioneers. 

1847-1849. 

Great Salt Lake Valley. It was a hot July morning 
in the year 1847. The Valley of the Great Salt Lake 
was sleeping in the sunlight. There lay the burning 
plain, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and the 
blue lake, flashing back the summer sunbeams; but not 
a house, not even a tree, that could be called a tree, 




Salt Lake Valley in 1847. 

cast its lone shadow on hill or valley. There loomed 
old Ensign Peak, as it had loomed for ages, but no 
flag waved from its summit, no city nestled at its base. 
North, south, east, and west, as far as the eye cou'd 
reach, no sign of human life was visible. All was 
silence, solitude, and desolation. 

But the deep sleep of centuries is about to be 



THE PIONEERS. 15 

broken. The clay of awakening has dawned, and 
the men are at hand who will work on the face of 
the desert a marvelous change. Even now their 
dust-covered wagons are issuing from the mouth of 
yonder canyon, and halting on the eastern foot-hills, 
to allow a little band of tired pilgrims to take their 
first view of Salt Lake Valley. The Pioneers of Utah 
are upon the scene of their future toils. 

Who Were the Pioneers? They were a small party 
led by Brigham Young from the Missouri River — 
from a little prairie settlement named Winter Quar- 
ters, nearly opposite Council Bluffs. Brigham Young- 
was the leader of a religious people, the Latter-day 
Saints, who had left their city — Nauvoo, Illinois — and 
WQVQ moving into the far West. The Pioneers were 
the vanguard of that people.* Leaving the main body 
at W'inter Quarters, they had traveled over a thou- 
sand miles to find for their community a new home in 
the wilderness. 

The Exodus from Illinois. The Latter-day Saints 
began their exodus from Illinois in February, 1846. 
Many crossed the Mississippi River on the ice. Most 
of their wagons were drawn by oxen, and some were 
driven by w^omen and children. About the same time 
another company of them, in charge of Samuel Bran- 
nan, sailed from New York for the Bay of San Fran- 
cisco. t Those from Nauvoo reached the Missouri 



*Two at least of the Pioneers were not of the religious faith of 
the Latter-day Saints. Three of the company were negroes. 

tThere were three routes from the East to the Pacific Coast — 
two of them by sea. One of these was around Cape Horn, and 
the other crossed the Isthmus of Panama. The third route was 
from the frontier over the plains. The Brannan colony, on the ship 
Brooklyn, "doubled the Horn." 



16 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

River in June, and camped at Council Bluffs, on the 
Pottawattamie Indian lands. There was no city — only 
the Bluff's, where the Indian chiefs sometimes sat in 
council. The people crossed to the west side of the 
river, and built, by permission of the Omaha Indians, 
the settlement named Winter Quarters, now Flor- 
ence, Nebraska. 

The Mexican War. In April of that year, war had 
broken out between the United States and Mexico, 
and in July the migrating people furnished to the Gov- 
ernment a battalion of five hundred men, who helped 
to conquer the country the Pioneers were about to 
enter. These volunteers were part of the force com- 
manded by General Stephen F. Kearney, who was 
sent to capture the provinces of New Mexico and Cal- 
ifornia. New Mexico then embraced Arizona, while 
California, as previously stated, included Utah and 
Nevada. The Battalion marched from Fort Leaven- 
worth, by way of Santa Fe, into Southern California, 
arriving there in January, 1847. 

The Pioneer Journey. Three months later, the 
Pioneers set out upon their journey. They numbered 
at starting one hundred and forty-eight souls, in- 
cluding three women and two children. The men 
were armed with rifles and small weapons, and a can- 
non was taken along to overawe hostile Indians. In 
their covered wagons they carried plows, seed grain, 
and a year's sup])ly of provisions. They also took with 
them a case of surveyor's instruments, afterwards 
used in laying out Salt Lake City. One of them in- 
vented a ''roadometer," to measure the distance trav- 



THE PIONEERS. 17 

eled."^ In all, there were seventy-two wagons, drawn 
by horses, mules, and oxen. Mounted men were iew. 
Most of the Pioneers, like the emigrants who fol- 
low^ed them, walked the greater part of the way to 
Salt Lake Valley. They were required to be watch- 
ful and prayerful, to keep the Sabbath, and respect 
the rights of the red men. 

A New Road. ]\Iost travelers to the A\>st passed 
up the south bank of the Platte. The Pioneers chose 
the north bank, and broke a new road over the plains; 
a road now covered for hundreds of miles by the 
Union Pacific Railway. When they came to a stream 
too deep to ford, they crossed in a leather boat, which 
served as a wagon box while traveling. Rafts were 
also used, made from cotton wood trees growing along 
the banks. Some of the streams were only about two 
feet deep, but at the bottom were beds of quicksand, 
dangerous to teams, and almost pulling a wagon to 
pieces. 

Indian Tactics. As a rule, the Indians they met — 
mostly Pawnees and Sioux — were friendly, though 
some of them set fire to the prairie, thus destroying the 
grass needed by the Pioneers as feed for their animals. 
The red men also helped themselves to horses belong- 
ing to the company. More than once they tried to 
stampede the stock. Crawling stealthily through the 
long grass, on dark, rainy nights, they would cut the 



*"Road-om-eter." The first one — for there were two — was a crude 
affair, though ingenious. An old steel saw was made to project from 
a wagon box in such a way as to strike a nail driven into a spoke 
of a wheel, at every turn. The circumference of the wheel, multi- 
plied by the number of strikes or revolutions, registered the dis- 
tance. A description of the more perfect machine, afterwards in- 
vented, has not been preserved. 



18 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

lariats of the horses, when staked outside the camp, 
and scare and scatter them in all directions. As a 
means of protection, the wagons at night were 
formed into a ''corral." It was done by arranging 
them in a circle or an oval, with the tongues outside, 
and a fore wheel of each wagon locked in a hind wheel 
of the one ahead. The stock were kept inside the en- 
closure, an opening at either end being carefully 
guarded.* 

Hunting the Bison. At Grand Island, the prairie 
was alive with herds of bison — improperly called buf- 
falo. The Pioneers indulged in a hunt. Twelve men 
on horseback and tw^elve afoot, were given the task 
of providing meat for the whole company. Most of 
them had never seen a bison before, and some were 
simple enough to try to kill one by shooting him full 
in the forehead. The hair and skull were so thick that 
the bullets rebounded without having made the least 
impression. Ten of the animals, pierced in more vul- 
nerable spots, were killed and taken to camp. The 



*A good idea of a stampede is given in the following bit of de- 
scription, written by one of the early emigrants to Salt Lake Val- 
ley : "At a very early hour, some one w^as carelessly shaking a big 
buffalo robe at the back of a wagon, when a number of the cattle 
in the corral took fright and started to run ; these frightened others ; 
they began bellowing, and all in a huddle ran for the gateway of the 
enclosure. This being too narrow for the rushing multitude that 
thronged into the passage, they piled themselves one upon another, 
until the top ones were alDOve the tops of the wagons, jarring and 
moving some of them from their places. The inmates, suddenly 
roused from sleep, and not knowing the cause of the terrible 
uproar and confusion, were almost paralyzed with fear. At length, 
some of the cattle broke from the enclosure, the bellowing sub- 
sided, and quiet was restored; but the fright caused considerable 
suffering to those whose nerves were not equal to the strain. In the 
stampede two wagon wheels were crushed, several oxen had horns 
knocked off. and one cow was killed." 



THE PIONEERS. 19 




Hunting The Bison. 

Pioneers were advised by their leader not to kill game 
in mere sport, but only when they needed it for food. 
Now and then the skull of a dead bison served as a 
post office, in which to leave letters for friends who 
were following. 

Crossing the Platte. At Fort Laramie the river was 
crossed on a ferry boat, hired from a Frenchman in 
charge of the post. This fort was originally a station 
of the Hudson Bay Company, which carried on a 
ofreat business in the fur trade. In the Black Hills 
region the Pioneers built rafts and made a ferry of 
their own, helping over the river at that point several 
companies of Missourians, bound for Oregon. They 
were paid for this service in flour, meal and bacon, 
at eastern prices. 

Colonel Bridger. Major Harris. Samuel Brannan. 
After passing the Rocky Mount^ain "divide," they met 



20 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



the famous Colonel 
Bridger. He warned them 
against settling in the 
Great Basin until it had 
been shoAvn that grain 
could be raised there. 
''Mr. Young," said the 
Colonel, "I would give a 
thousand dollars if I knew 
an ear of corn could ripen 
in Salt Lake Valley." 
Major Moses Harris, an- 
other mountaineer, advis- 
ed them to go to Cache 
Valley, where the land 
was m ore productive. 
Colonel Bridger. Cache Valley was SO nam- 

ed because the trappers cached their furs there, to 
hide them from the Indians. On Green River, Sam- 
uel Brannan rode into camp. He tried in vain to in- 
duce the Pioneers to join him in his colony on the 
Pacific Coast. 




Independence Day. Pioneer Day. The Fourth of 
July fell upon the Sabbath. The Pioneers sacredly 
observed the glorious anniversary. A few days 
later they arrived at Fort Bridger, and from there fol- 
lowed the route taken by the Donner party the year 
before, passing through Echo and East canyons, over 
the Big and Little mountains, and down Emigration 
Canyon into Salt Lake Valley. Their journey ended 



TIll^: PIONEERS. 21 

on July 24th, which has since been observed in Utah 
as Pioneer Day. 

In Salt Lake Valley. Beginnings of Irrigation. The 

Pioneers pitched their tents and corraled their wag- 
ons below the mouth of a canyon in the north-eastern 
part of the Valley. Erom that canyon issued a stream 
— the one now known as City Creek. It then divided 
into two branches, one flowing west, the other 
south. The first camp was about wdiere the Salt Lake 
City and County Building now stands. The first plow- 
ing done was within an area now^ between the Deseret 
National Bank and the Hotel Knutsford. It was dif- 
ficult work. More than one plowshare was broken in 
the hard, sun-baked soil.* 

To make the plowing easier, dams were placed in 
the creek, and the ground flooded. This w^as the be- 
ginning of irrigation in arid America — at least, by 
men of the Anglo-Saxon race. The land broken w^as 
planted w^ith potatoes, corn, oats, buck-wheat, peas, 
beans, and other garden seeds. These crops, put in so 
late, did not mature, but a few small potatoes w^ere ob- 
tained as excellent seed for another year's planting. 

While this w^ork was going on, the Valley was ex- 
plored. Brigham Young ascended and named En- 
sign Peak, and visited the Lake and other points of in- 
terest. It was decided that a city should be built, be- 
ginning at what is now Temple Block, between the 
tw^o branches of City Creek. 



*The first furrows were plowed by George W. Brown, William 
Carter, and Shadrach Ronndy. 



22 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 




Black Rock, Great Salt Lake. 

Next Arrivals. The next to arrive upon the scene 
were members of the Battalion, a detachment com- 
manded by Captain James Brown. It was made up 
of men who had become disabled while on the march 
to Santa Fe, and had passed the winter at Pueblo, 
on the headwaters of the Arkansas River. This de- 
tachment, numbering about one hundred men, en- 
tered Salt Lake Valley five days after the Pioneers. 
With them came a company of emigrants from Mis- 
sissippi, a few^ of whom had joined the Pioneers at 
Fort Laramie. The Mississippians also numbered 
about one hundred. A Battalion man — John Steele — 
was the father of the first child born in the colony. 
The little pioneer was a girl. 

First Structure Built. These Battalion men built 
the first structure in Salt Lake Valley. It was a bow- 
ery, in which to hold public meetings. Posts were 
set in the ground, and upon these long poles were laid, 



THE PIONEERS 23 

fastened with wooden pegs and strips of rawhide. 
This frame work, overlaid with tinil:)ers and brush, 
made a good shelter from the sun, but not a very good 
one from wind and rain. 

Utes and Shoshones. The day the bowery was 
built, tw^o small bands of Indians, Utes and Sho- 
shones, w^ere trading at the camps on City Creek. A 
young Ute stole a horse from the Shoshones and 
traded it to one of the settlero for a rifle. When de- 
tected, he refused to give up the gun, an-d a 
fight followed between him and a Shoshone youth. 
They were finally separated, but not until the 
father of one of them had lashed both the young fel- 
lows with a heavy thong of rawhide. The Ute then 
tried to steal another horse belonging to the Sho- 
shones, but while driving the animal toward the 
mountains, he was pursued by four of that band and 
shot dead. 

The two tribes had long been enemies, but now 
there was additional bad blood between them, caused 
by the coming of the Utes to trade with the settlers. 
The Shoshones claimed Salt Lake Valley and the 
country north, while the Utes claimed Utah Valley 
and the region south. It angered the Shoshones to 
find any of the settlers trading with the Utes. 

The Old Fort. As a protection against hostile and 
thieving savages, the Pioneers built a stockade, which 
was named "The Old Fort." It was in the form of 
a rectangle, and stood upon the block now known 
as Pioneer Square. The east side consisted of a row 
of log houses, w^hile the north, south and west sides 
were mud walls. The roofs were of brush, covered 



24 



1^HR MAKING OF A STAI^IC. 



with earth. The\' shinted inward, and the doors and 
windows faced the interior. Each house had a small 
loop-hole looking out. In most of them the bare 
ground served as a floor. Heavy gates, carefully 
locked at night, guarded the main entrance to the 
fort. 

Two additional blocks, or parts of blocks, on the 
south, were enclosed in like manner, and joined on to 
the original stockade. This extension was built by 
the immigrants who followed the Pioneers from Win- 
ter Quarters, and began to arrive in Salt Lake Valley 




SOUTH FORTS 



NORTH FORT^ 



The Old Fort. 

during the latter part of September. There were four 
large companies of them, numbering in the aggregate 
fifteen hundred souls. Several pieces of artillery- 
were brought in this immigration. 

Life in the "Old Fort" had many discomforts. The 
fore part of the first winter was mild and open, but 
as the season advanced heavy snows fell, melted, 
and soaked through the dirt and willow roofs upon 
the heads of the miserable inmates. Swarms of ver- 



min — mice and bugs — infested the fort. 



The bugs 



came in the green timber from the mountains. The 
mice were also native, though some may have been 




THE PIONEERS. 25 

brought in the grain wagons of the immigrants. 
Large white wolves howled around the stockade and 
attacked the cattle on the range. And yet, in spite 
of these annoyances, more than one happy gathering, 
more than one joyful celebration, was held within 
those rude walls. Tw^o 
little schools w ere 
taught there.* 

The first house out- 
side the fort was a log- 
cabin built by Lorenzo 
D. Young, in the au- 
tumn of 1847. It stood 
where the Bee-Hjve 
House now stands, An Early Settler's Cabin. 

Indian Episodes. The removal of the Young fam- 
ily from the fort was much against the wishes of their 
friends, who feared harm to them from the Indians. 
An incident occurred that winter which proved the 
fear to be well founded. Mrs. Young was alone with 
her infant child one day, when an Indian, a fierce, ill- 
looking fellow, came to the door, begging bread. She 
gave him two small biscuits, but with these he was 
not content. She then gave him another, all the bread 
she had in the house ; but still he demanded more. 
She told him she had no more. This made him furi- 
ous. Fitting an arrow to his bow, he aimed at her 
heart. She thought her last moment, and that of her 
helpless babe, had come. 

Not yet! In another part of the house there w^' 



'Julian Moses and Mary Jane Dilworth were the teachers. 



26 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

a large dog, a powerful mastiff, purchased by her hus- 
band on leaving the fort and kept on the premises for 
her protection. Making a sign to the Indian, as if to 
comply with his demand, she passed into the next 
room and hastily untied the dog. ''Seize him !" she 
exclaimed. The mastiff darted through the doorway, 
sprang upon the intruder, bit him savagely, and bore 
him to the ground. He pleaded for life, and Mrs. 
Young, after prudently relieving him of his bow and 
arrow, called off the dog, and set the savage at lib- 
erty. He w^as badly hurt. The brave woman washed 
his wound, applied a healing plaster, and sent him 
away. 

The settlers of Salt Lake Valley were not much 
molested by the red men. Other settlements, formed 
later, fared worse. It was a custom with the sav- 
ages to torture and kill their prisoners of war, if 
they could not sell them. Several Indian children 
were ransomed by persons at the fort, to save them 
from being shot or more cruelly put to death by 
their captors. One of these children, a girl named 
Sally, was reared to womanhood by Mrs. Clara 
D. Young, one of the Three Pioneer Women. Sally, 
after being civilized, went back to her people, through 
a pure sense of duty. Hoping to benefit her race by 
living among them, she became the wife of Kanosh, 
a Pauvant chief, but was unable to endure the hard- 
ships of savage life, and soon passed away. 

The Cricket Plague. In the spring of 1848, five 
thousand acres of land were under cultivation in Salt 
Lake Valley. Nine hundred acres had been sown with 
winter wheat, which was just beginning to sprout. 



THE PIONEERS. 27 

But now came an event as unlooked for as it was 
terrible. It was the cricket plague. In May and June 
these destructive pests rolled in le^^ions down the 
mountain sides, and attacked the fields of growing 
grain. The tender crops fell an easy prey to their 
fierce appetite. The ground over which they had 
passed looked as if scorched by fire.* 

Thoroughly alarmed, the community, men, 
women, and children, marshalled themselves to fio:ht 
the ravenous foe. Some went through the fields, 
killing the crickets, but crushing much of the tender 
grain. Some dug ditches around the farms, turned 
water into the trenches, and drove and drowned 
therein the black devourers. Others beat them back 
with clubs and brooms, or burned them in fires. Still 
the crickets prevailed. Despite all that could be 
done by the settlers, their hope of a harvest was fast 
vanishing, and with that hope, the hope of life itself. 

Rescued by the Gulls. They were rescued, as they be- 
lieved, by a miracle, — just such a miracle as is said to 
have saved Rome, when the cackling of geese roused 
the slumbering city in time to beat back the invading 
Gauls. In the midst of the work of ruin, when it 
seemed as if nothing could stay the destruction, great 
flocks of gulls appeared, filling the air with their white 
wings and plaintive cries. They settled down upon 
the half-ruined fields. At first it looked as if they 



*Anson Call thus describes the Rocky Mountain cricket: "When 
full grown it is about one and a half inches in length, heavy and 
clumsy in its movements, with no better power of locomotion than 
hopping a foot or two at a time. It has an eagle-eyed, staring 
appearance, and suggests the idea that it may be the habitation of a 
vindictive little demon." 



28 



THE MAKING OF A STATIC. 



came but to help the crickets destroy. But their real 
purpose was soon apparent. They came to prey up- 
on the destroyers. All day long they gorged them- 
selves, disgorged, and feasted again, the white gulls 
upon the black crickets, until the pests were van- 
quished and the harvest saved. The birds then re- 
turned to the Lake islands, leaving the grateful 
settlers to shed tears of joy over their timely deliv- 
erance. 

A Sacred Bird. The gull is still to be seen in the 
vicinity of the Great Salt Lake. The wanton killing 
of these birds was made punishable by law. Rome 
had her sacred geese; Utah would have her sacred 
gulls, forever to be held in honor as the heaven-sent 
messengers that saved the Pioneers. 




Gui-LS ON Hat Island. 



THE PIONEERS. 29 

The First Harvest Home. A season of scarcity 
followed, but no fatal famine; and before the worst 
came the glad people celebrated, wnth a public feast, 
their first harvest home. ''Large sheaves of wheat, 
rye, barley, oats, and other products were hoisted on 
poles for exhibition; and there was prayer and thanks- 
giving, congratulations, songs, speeches, music, danc- 
ing, smiling faces, and merry hearts." The fort then 
contained al)out eighteen hundred inhabitants, includ- 
ing several parties of men from the disbanded Bat- 
talion, who had returned laden with gold dust from 
the California mines. They had also brought two 
brass cannon, purchased by them at Sutter's Fort. 

Immigration of 1848. In September, Brigham 
Young and other leaders, who had made a return 
trip to Winter Quarters, arrived a second time in Salt 
Lake Valley, bringing with them nearly twenty-five 
hundred immigrants. The population of the Valley 
was now upwards of four thousand. How to feed 
them was a question, as the signs of a long and 
severe winter began to show themselves. The har- 
vest upon which they had mainly depended, reduced 
by the combined ravages of crickets, drouth and frost, 
was insufficient. Before the food problem was solved 
there had been privation and suffering in the colony. 

The Old Fort Abandoned. In the spring of 1849 
the families still living in the fort began to move out 
upon the town lots which had previously been dis- 
tributed to them. Many took w^ith them their log 
huts, portions of the old stockade, wdiich gradually 
disappeared as the city grew. 

The Pioneer City. Great Salt Lake City — for that 



30 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

was the original name of the town,* — was laid out in 
August, 1847.t The plan was a perfect square, north, 
south, east and west. Each block contained ten acres, 
and the streets were eight rods wide. Four blocks 
were reserved for public squares. On the outskirts, 
fields of five, ten, and twenty acres were laid out, 
the smallest ones nearest the town, and the others 
graded in size according to distance. Each head of a 
family had a city lot of an acre and a quarter, and a 
field, with enough water to irrigate his land. The plant- 
ing of trees was encouraged. Rich orchards in time 
brought forth luscious fruits, and shade trees lined the 
clear, sparkling streams, flowing down both sides of 
the charming and healthful thoroughfares. 

In this manner was planned, built, and occupied. 
Salt Lake City, the parent and model of most of the 
towns and villages now in Utah. 



*"Great Basin City," a still earlier title, was not popular, and did 
not pass into common use. 

tThe altitude at the southeast corner of Temple Block was deter- 
mined to be 4,309 feet above sea level. From that point — the base 
and meridian — Orson Pratt and Henry G. Sherwood began the or- 
iginal survey on the second of August. 



THE STATE OF DESERET. 31 

3. The State of Deseret. 

1849—1851. 

Governments and Their Purpose. Wherever men 
dwell together there must be some form of govern- 
ment, to preserve peace, give protection, and promote 
the general welfare. Society could not exist without 
laws, and officers to enforce them. Even savage 
tribes have a chief, and are ruled by their strongest 
and wisest men. 

ReHgious and Civil Rule. A religious government 
pertains to a church. A civil or political government 
is the ruling power of a city, county, state or nation. 
When our first settlers came into the Great Basin 
they already had a religious government, of which 
Brigham Young was the head. He was President 
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
But a civil government w^as needed as well, and as 
soon as possible after the earliest settlements were 
formed, steps were taken toward the founding of a 
State. Being Americans, and the lands upon which 
they had settled having passed into the possession of 
the United States, the people aimed to set up an 
American government, one subject to and agreeable 
with the Constitution and law^s of their country.* 

Our First Political Convention. As usual in such 
cases, a convention was called (February, 1849) to 



*The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, b}'- which Mexico ceded this 
region — Upper California — to the United States, was signed Febru- 
ary 2nd, 1848, 



32 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

consider the political needs of the community. The 
call was addressed to ''all the citizens of that portion 
of Upper California lying east of the Sierra Nevada 
Mountains." This meant, in general terms, the coun- 
try bounded on the east by the Rocky Mountains, on 
the west by the Sierra Nevadas, on the north by the 
Territory of Oregon, and on the south by the Repub- 
lic of Mexico. The people were invited to meet at 
Salt Lake City on Monday, the fifth of March.* 

The Convention decided to ask the Congress of the 
United States for the organization of a Territory, to 
be named Deseret.y Accordingly, a petition was sent 
to the City of A\^ashington, requesting early action in 
the matter. t 

A Provisional Government. Next the convention 
proceeded to organize a temporary government, 
known as the Provisional Government of the State of 
Deseret. A constitution was framed and adopted 
under which it might go into effect. The boundaries 
of the proposed State were the same as those of the 
proposed Territory. They embraced present Utah 
and Nevada, parts of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mex- 
ico, and Arizona, with a strip of seacoast in Southern 
California, including the port of San Diego. 



*Some writers give this date as the fourth of March — Inaugura- 
tion Day. Doubtless that thought was in mind when the call was 
issued, but the 4th falling on Sunday, the 5th was chosen instead. 

tThe word Deseret means, to the Latter-day Saints, "Honey-Bee." 

?The bearer of the petition, Dr. John M. Bernhisel, took with 
him a letter of introduction to Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The 
letter was signed l)y Brigham Young, Hebcr C. Kimlxall, and Willard 
Richards, wlio had known tlic Senator in Illinois. 



THE STATE OF DESERET. 33 

The Earliest Election. The election of officers for 
the temporary government took place at Sa't Lake 
City on the twelfth of March. Brigham Young was 
elected Governor of Deseret. A secretary, a treasurer, 
a chief justice, two associate justices, a marshal, an at- 
torney general, an assessor and collector, and a sur- 
veyor of highways, were also chosen.* At the same 
time, justices of the peace were elected, one for each 
of the nineteen wards of Salt Lake City, and for each 
of the several outside precincts. All these officers 
served without pay. 

The General Assembly. A legislative body, known 
as the General Assembly, was likewise provided for in 
the State Constitution. It consisted of a Senate and 
a House of Representatives, both elected by the peo- 
ple. Its first meeting was held in July, at the Council 
House"^ in Salt Lake City. By that time it had been 
decided to ask Congress to admit Deseret into the 
Union as a State, and a new petition, praying for 
Statehood, was prepared and adopted by the Legisla- 
ture and signed by the citizens. Colonel Almon W. 
Babbitt was elected Delegate to Congress, to convey 
this petition to Washington. He also carried with 



*The names of these officers were : Secretary, Willard Richards ; 
Treasurer, Newel K. Whitney; Chief Justice, Heber C. Kimball; 
Associate Justices, John Taylor and N. K. Whitney; Attorney-Gen- 
eral, Daniel H. Wells ; Marshal, Horace S. Eldredge ; Assessor and 
Collector, Albert Carrington ; Surveyor of Highways, Joseph L. 
Heywood. 

tThe Council House— our first legislative hall— stood at the cor- 
ner of Main and South Temple streets, on the site now occupied 
by the Deseret News Building. It was erected in 1848-9, and de- 
stroyed by fire in 1883. 



.14 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



im 




I^HH^kHiRIS^'^.*- B"^ 


■iMt^ :^S^^-^*^ ■•' 


IIB'!§""^^aBKfea-=^.-^.^-. . -, _ ,*'- _ 




lEi 




t' ■^, , . ..^»' 



The Council House, Salt Lake City. 

him a copy of the State Constitution, which Congress 
was requested to ratify. 

The Militia Organized. One of the first acts of the 
Provisional Government was to organize the militia. 
Nearly all the men were enrolled as soldiers of the 
State. Those over fifty years were called "Silver 
Greys," and those under eighteen, ''Juvenile Rifles." 
The militia was known as "The Nauvoo Lesfion," a 
name previously borne by the Nauvoo part of the mil- 
itia of Illinois. It was modeled, with some variations, 
after the Roman legion. There w^ere two "cohorts," 
one of cavalry, the other of infantry. Two com- 
panies comprised the artillery. The first company or- 
ganized was a body of cavalry called "Minute Men." 
The chief officer of the Legion was General Daniel H. 
Wells. 



;! 



THE STATE OF DESERET. 35 

An Isolated Community. The people of Deseret 
were well nigh isolated from the rest of mankind. ''A 
thousand miles from anywhere," was a phrase used 
by them to describe their location. They had little 
communication with the outside world, and that little 
was by means of the ox team and the pack mule. The 
day of the stage coach and the pony express had not 
yet come.* 

There was no regular mail service. The news from 
East or West was brought by any chance traveler who 
came this way. The eastern mail from Salt Lake City 
in the summer of 1849, was carried by Colonel Bab- 
bitt, Delegate to Congress from Deseret. t 

Almost a Famine. The work of building up the 
State went steadily on, though in the face of' distress- 
ing conditions. Since the autumn of 1848, there had 
been almost a famine in the land. The scant harvest 
resulting from the cricket plague and the drouth and 
frost of the same season, had made the food question a 
serious one, and clothing and other necessaries were 
almost as scarce as bread-stufls. Nearly every man 
in the colony dressed in buckskin, and wore Indian 
moccasins. Those who had provisions put their fam- 
ilies upon rations, while those who were without, or 



*"How quiet, how still, how free from excitement we live ! The 
legislation of our High Council, the decision of some judge or court 
of the Church, a meeting, a dance, a visit, an exploring tour, the ar- 
rival of a party of trappers and traders, a Mexican caravan, a party 
arrived from the Pacific, or from Fort Bridger; a visit of Indians, 
or a mail from the distant world once or twice a year, is all that 
breaks the monotony of our busy and peaceful Yiie."— Parley P. Pratt, 
in a private letter, September, 1848. 

tLetters in those primitive times were without envelopes or 
stamps, and were wrapped in buckskin covers, tied round and round 
with strings of the same material. 



36 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

had but little, dug and ate sego and thistle roots, or 
cooked the hides of animals, to eke out their scanty 
store.* 

The Gold Fever. Relief came, most unexpectedly, 
when the gold hunters began to pass through Salt 
Lake Valley, in June, 1849. The discovery of go'd 
west of the Sierras, was partly owing to members of 
the Battalion. The volunteers had been honorably dis- 
charged at Los Angeles (July, 1847), and a few of 
them had found employment at Sutter's Fort, near ihe 
present city of Sacramento. They were hired by Cap- 
tain Sutter to construct a mill race. The work being- 
completed, the water was turned in for a trial run. 
There was a washout, and Sutter's partner, or fore- 
man, walked along the race to learn the extent of the 
damage. He picked up from the bottom of the flume 
a few yellow shining particles about the size of wheat 
grains. These were assayed and found to be goM. 
That foreman was James W. Marshall, famed as the 
discoverer of goM in California; but it was the picks 
and shovels of the Battalion boys that brought that 
gold to the surface (January, 1848). 

The event caused great excitement throughout the 
civilized world. By sea and land, eager souls from 
many nations hurried to the California coast. Much 
of this emigration passed through Salt Lake Valley. 
Here the tired gold-seekers halted for rest, and to 
obtain supplies to enable them to reach their des- 
tination. Many had loaded their wagons with mer- 



*This early use of the soft and bulbous root of the sego lily, even 
more than the beauty of the flower, caused it to be selected, in after 
years, as the floral emblem of Utah. 



THE STATE OE DESERET. 37 

chandise for the minings camps. Impatient at their 
slow progress, and hearing that other merchants had 
arrived by sea before them, they all but threw away 
the vakiable goods they had freighted over a thousand 
miles. Dry goods, groceries, provisions, clothing, im- 
plements, — aU that was needed by the half-fed, half- 
clad community in the mountains, was bartered off 
to them at any sacrifice, so anxious were the owners 
to lighten their loads and shorten the time of travel. 

The gold fever, as it was called, infected many of 
the Valley settlers, and a strong influence had to be 
exerted by the leaders to prevent a large emigration 
from these parts. Despite all persuasion, hundreds 
were hurried away, overcome by the prevailing thirst 
for sudden wealth. 

The First Money. There was plenty of gold in the 
community, but very little money; and much incon- 
venience was the result. Exchange and barter was 
the rule. Clothing or furniture was paid for with 
cattle, wheat or potatoes. Little bags of gold dust 
were handed around in the place of dollars and cents. 
An effort was made to coin the dust, but the crucibles 
used in the process broke, and paper money was then 
issued. The first bill — one dollar — was dated January 
1st, 1849. That was before the Government of Des- 
eret was organized, and while a ''Municipal Council" 
was attending to the public business. The making of 
these bills was the first printing done in the State. 
A second attempt to coin the dust succeeded, and gold 
pieces were then issued, ranging in value from two-and- 
a-half dollars up to twenty dollars. These coins were 
of unaMoyed virgin gold, and were designed purely for 



38 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

local use. xA.s soon as Government money became 
plentiful, they were called in and disposed of as bul- 
lion to the Federal mints.* 

The Emigration Fund. In the fall of 1849, the Per- 
petual Emigrating Fund Company was organized. Its 
purpose was' to help the poor among the Latter-day 




An Emigrant Train. 

Saints, in the United States and other countries, to 
migrate to their gathering place in the West. In 
order to make the Fund perpetual, those aided by it 
were expected to repay, as soon as possible, the 
means advanced for their transportation. Every year 
this company sent wagons to the Missouri River to 
bring emigrants across the plains. Some seasons, as 
many as five hundred wagons were sent. 

*The coins of Dcscret are much sought after at the present time, 
as relics. 



THE STATE OF DESERET. 39 

Men and women of genius and talent from many 
parts of the world were among the early settlers of 
the State, — farmers, laborers, tradesmen, merchants, 
manufacturers, and business men, with a liberal sprin- 
kling of artists, musicians, writers, and other profes- 
sional people. Crossing the sea, generally in large 
companies, they traveled in various ways to the fron- 
tier, where the wagons from the West awaited them. 
They were then reorganized for the journey over the 
plains. The toilsome trip at an end, they were met by 
relatives or friends, and given employment at Salt 
Lake City, or sent to colonize new sections. 

The Land Question. Wherever settlements sprang 
up, they were upon lands claimed by the Indians and 
acquired by the United States at the close of the war 
with Mexico. The Nation was expected to deal with 
the Indians, and in due time with the settlers, but un- 
til it took some steps in the matter the people could 
obtain no title to their homes. Much anxiety was felt 
by them in consequence. While waiting for the Na- 
tional Government to dispose of the soil, the State 
Government made temporary grants to its citizens, of 
the lands they occupied, including the use of grazing 
ground, and of water and timber for milling and lum- 
bering purposes. It was twenty years after the settle- 
ment of Salt Lake Valley, before the United States 
land laws were extended over this region, and legal 
titles given,* 



*The Pioneers distributed their lots and fields by ballot. Each 
city lot cost its holder one dollar and a half, with small fees for 
surveying and recording. Under the Provisional Government, a 
"right of occupancy" was issued by the State registrar, which was 
to answer the purpose of a title until the General Government had 
surveyed the lands and put them upon the market. 



40 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Growth of the Colony. After the lands lying just 
south of Ensign Peak, the first to be taken up were 
parts now within Davis and Weber counties. The 
nucleus of Davis County was formed by Peregrine 
Sessions and others, in the fall of 1847. The pioneer 
of Weber County was Captain James Brown, already 
mentioned. Late in 1847, or early in 1848, he pur- 
chased from a mountaineer named Miles M. Good- 
year, an o-d log fort, with lands, on Weber River, and 
there founded Brownville, which finally became Og- 
den City.* About the same time Archibald and 
Robert Gardner built a saw-mill, and John Neft" a 
grist mill, on Mill Creek, and settlements gradually 
formed in that and in other directions. 

The first colonizing move southward from Salt 
Lake Valley was made by John S. Higbee, a Pioneer 
of 1847. He was placed at the head of about thirty 
families, with wagons and a complete outfit, and di- 
rected to make a settlement in Utah Valley. The 
company left Salt Lake City about the middle of 
March, 1849. Camping on Provo River, they built 
a fort and began to farm. The fort was the usual 
cluster of log houses, surrounded by a stockade. In 
the middle arose a block-house, upon which a cannon 
was mounted. 

November of that year saw the beginning of the 
settlement of Sanpete Valley, by Isaac Morley and a 
small company from Salt Lake City. About the same 
time Tooele Valley was occupied. In December South- 
ern Utah was explored, and a little later settlements 



*Goodyecir held his lands under a grant from the Mexican gov 
ernment. 



THE STATE OF DESERET. 41 

were made in what are now Juab and Iron counties. 
Most of these movements were directed by the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Deseret, which, during the winter 
of 1849-50, created the counties of Salt Lake, Weber, 
Utah, Sanpete, Tooele, and Juab. 

First Indian Troubles. Up to that time there had 
been no fighting with the Indians, if we except a 
sharp skirmish on Battle Creek (now Pleasant 
Grove), where Colonel John Scott, with thirty or 
forty men, early in March, 1849, punished a thieving 
band of Shoshones, who had been stealing horses 
and cattle from herds ranging in Tooele and Salt Lake 
valleys. Battle Creek took its name from the fight 
that occurred there. 

Now a more serious trouble arose, — this time 
with the Utes, some of whom looked with alarm upon 
the colonizing moves that were being made in their 
direction. Two of their chiefs, Sowiette and Walker, 
had visited Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1848, 



r 



▲ 






.^^' 




T NOT A In TePEES. 



42 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

and invited their ''white brothers" to come among 
them and teach them how to till the soil ; and the set- 
tlers had promised to send them teachers of that kind. 
But all the Indians were not of the same mind regard- 
ing this matter, and some of them resented the found- 
ing of the first settlement in Utah Valley. 

For several months after the Provo fort was built, 
the Indians in that neighborhood were peaceable and 
friendly. Then came a change. They began stealing 
grain from the fields, and cattle and horses from the 
herds. Now and then an arrow from an Indian bow 
fell uncomfortably near some settler, out gathering 
wood in the river bottoms. The cannon at the fort 
was fired off occasionally, as a warning; but it had no 
effect. Finally the savages commenced shooting at 
the settlers as they came out of the fort, and at last the 
stockade was virtually in a state of siege. These an- 
noyances began in the summer or fall of 1849. The 
people bore them patiently until nearly spring, and 
then sent word to Governor Young, at Salt Lake City. 

Governor Young's Quandary. The Governor faced 
ijvdiat he felt to be a delicate situation. The fort must 
be relieved, and at once, but violence and bloodshed 
were distasteful to him. ''Feed the Indians — don't 
fight them," was his favorite motto in relation to the 
red men. Besides, what would the Government at 
Washington think of it, and what effect would ij; have 
upon Deseret's prayer for Statehood? 

Captain Stansbury Consulted. Fortunately there 
was a Government officer near at hand, who could 
l)e consulted. Captain Howard Stansbury, of the 
United States Topographical Engineers, had been 



THE STATE OF DESERET. 43 

sent west to make a survey of Salt Lake Valley and 
its vicinity, and during the autumn his men, while 
operating around Utah Lake, had been much inter- 
fered with by Indians. Governor Young, after con- 
ferring with Captain Stansbury, decided to send an 
armed force against the savage marauders. The Cap- 
tain not only approved of the plan, but helped to fit 
out the expedition.* 

The Provo River Battle. Fifty ''Minute Men," 
commanded by Captain George D. Grant, and another 
fifty under Major Andrew Lytic, early in February 
set out for the scene of the trouble. The weather was 
extremely cold, and the hard, crusted snow lay nearly 
two feet deep in the valleys. Progress was difficult. 
Before daybreak on the morning of the eighth, after 
marching nearly all night, the two companies of cav- 
alry arrived at Provo River. They found the settlers 
in their fort on the south side of the stream, and the 
Indians a mile or two above, strongly entrenched 
among the willows and timber of the river bottom. 
Near their breastwork, built of cottonwood trees 
that had been felled, was a double log house, desert- 
ed by a family that had taken refuge in the fort. This 
house was now held by the savages. There were 
seventy-five or a hundred warriors, under Chiefs Big 
Elk and Ope-Carry. Captain Peter W. Conover, the 
commander at the fort, united his men with the cav- 
alry from Salt Lake City, and the main force then 



*Captain Stansbury permitted Lieutenant Rowland, of the U. S. 
Mounted Rifles, to act as adjutant, and Dr. Blake, as surgeon, of 
the expedition. He also furnished tents and camp equipage for the 
soldiers. 



44 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

took up a position about half a mile southwest of the 
Indian breastwork. 

A battle ensued lasting two days. The Indians 
fought stubbornly, and for a time all efforts to dis- 
lodge them were futile. They killed Joseph Higbee 
and wounded several others of the attacking force. 
Cannon were used against them, but with little effect, 
as they were protected by the river bank, and most of 
the shots passed harmlessly over. Thrusting their 
gun barrels through the frozen snow lying deep on 
the bank above them, they would lift their heads long 
enough to take aim, and then, dropping down again, 
discharge volleys at their assailants. 

On the second day, a dashing cavalry charge, led 
by Lieutenant William H. Kimball, captured the dou- 
ble log house, from the windows and crevices of which 
the savages had kept up an almost incessant fire. At 
the suggestion of Lieutenant Rowland a barricade of 
planks, shaped like a V, was constructed and placed 
on runners. This barricade, pointed, toward the en- 
emy, was overlaid with brush, and it concealed a dozen 
or more men, who pushed it toward the Indian 
stronghold. The savages, when they saw the strange 
object approach, quickly guessed its purpose, and 
made up their minds to retreat. They redoubled their 
fire until nightfall, and then, under cover of the dark- 
ness, withdrew. 

Next morning General Wells arrived from the 
north with reinforcements, and preparations were 
made to renew the attack; but it was discovered that 
the Indians had gone. A portion of them were pur- 
sued up Rock Canyon, and the main body to the south 



THE STATE OF DESERET. 45 

end of Utah Lake, where a fight took place on the ice. 
The hostiles were all but annihilated. Their loss in- 
cluded Big Elk, wdio died of wounds received during 
the two days' battle. 

The survivors agreed to be friendly, and molest 
their white neighbors no more. Nevertheless, the 
colonists, wherever they went, took the precaution 
to build forts as a protection against Indian treach- 
ery. 

Final Acts of the Provisional Government. A nota- 
ble act of the Provisional Government was the cre- 
ation of the University of Deseret, now the Univer- 
sity of Utah. It was chartered in February, 1850. 
The General Assembly forbade the sale of arms, 
ammunition and liquor to the Indians. Liquor was 
manufactured and sold for medical and domestic 
uses, but saloons were prohibited. In January, 
1851, the Legislature chartered the cities of Salt 
Lake, Ogden, Provo. Manti and Parowan. In Feb- 
ruary it passed a resolution providing for the pres- 
entation of a block of marble to the Washington Mon- 
ument, which was then being erected. The Gov- 
ernment of the State of Deseret lasted until April, 
1851, when it was merged into the Government of the 
Territory of Utah. 



46 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

4. The Territorial Government. 

1850—1853. 

Territory and State. A Territory differs from a 
State as childhood differs from manhood. One is de- 
pendent ; the other, independent. In a State the peo- 
ple elect their own officers, and are therefore said to 
govern themselves. In a Territory the chief execu- 
tive and judicial officers are appointed by the Presi- 
dent and confirmed by the Senate of the United 
States, and are often strangers to the people among 
whom they are sent. 

Another difference is that a State may send two 
Senators and one or more Representatives to Con- 
gress, the number being determined by the size of the 
population ; while a Territory may send only a Dele- 
gate, who has a seat in the House of Representatives, 
but no vote, and is known as " a silent member." Even 
upon questions affecting the Territory from wdiich he 
comes, he may speak only by permission of the mem- 
bers of the House. 

The people of a Territory elect their own Legisla- 
ture, — a Council and a House of Representatives, — 
but the Governor, appointed by the President, can 
prevent any act of the Legislature from becoming a 
law, by withholding from it his signature. The power 
so to nullify the acts of the people's representatives 
is called the absolute veto power. The Governor of a 
State may also veto an act of the Legislature, but if 



THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT, 47 

two-thirds of each branch of that body vote to pass 
the act over the Governor's veto, it then becomes a 
hiw without his signature. 

Self Government Preferred. Americans love to 
govern themselves, and for that reason they prefer a 
State government to a Territorial government, though 
the cost of maintaining it is greater. A State pays its 
own expenses, including the salaries of its officers. 
The officers appointed by the President to serve in a 
Territory draw their salaries from the Treasury of 
the United States, and are know^n as Federal offi- 
cers. The General Government also defrays the ex- 
penses of the Territorial Legislature. Statehood is 
usually given to a Territory when its people become 
numerous enough and wealthy enough to support the 
higher form of government. 

The people of Deseret desired a State government, 
and petitioned for it, as has been shown; but Con- 
gress, deeming them unprepared for its responsibili- 
ties, denied their petition, and organized a Territory, 
naming it Utah. At the same time California was ad- 
mitted into the Union as a State. 

Boundaries of Utah. The Territory of Utah was 
bounded as follows : On the west by the State of Cal- 
ifornia, on the north by the Territory of Oregon, on 
the east by the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and 
on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of north 
latitude. This cut off the strip of sea-coast included 
in the proposed State of Deseret, but still left LItah an 
area of about 225,000 square miles. 

Appropriations by Congress. In addition to the 



48 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



salaries of the Federal officers, and the expenses of 
the Legislature, Congress appropriated twenty thou- 
sand dollars for the erection of public buildings at the 
capital of the Territory, and five thousand dollars for 
the purchase of a library, to be used by the Federal 

officers, members of the 
Legislature, and other citi- 
zens. 

Our First Federal Of- 
ficers. The Organic Act 
— as the law creating the 
Territory w^as called — w^as 
signed by Millard Fill- 
more, President of the 
United States, on the ninth 
of September, 1850. But 
the news did not reach 
here until late in January, 
1851. Even then it did not 
come directly, or in an of- 
ficial way, but having been 
published in the eastern 
papers, it was carried to California by way of the Isth- 
mus of Panama, and brought to Salt Lake City by a 
returning missionary — Henry E. Gibson. He had a 
copy of the New York Tribune, containing a list of the 
officers appointed for this Territory. They were as fol- 
lows : Brigham Young, Governor; Broughton D. 
Harris, Secretary; Joseph Buffington, Chief Justice; 
Perry E. Brocchus and Zerubbabel Snow, Associate 
Justices; Seth M. Blair, Attorney; and Joseph L. 




President Millard Fillmore. 



THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT. 49 



Hey wood, M a r s h a 1. 
Three Indian Agents 
were also appointed. 

The Governor, the 
Attorney, and the Mar- 
sha) were residents of 
Salt Lake City. Judge 
Snow was living in 
Ohio, but had relatives 
in Utah. Secretary Har- 
ris was from Vermont, 
and Judge Brocchus 
from Alabama. Judge 
Buffington, who was a 
Pennsylvanian, declined 
his appointment, and 
Lemuel G. Brandebury, 
of the same State, was 
appointed Chief Justice in his stead. The In- 
dian agents were also from outside the Ter- 
ritory. All these ofificers were appointed soon 
after the passage of the Organic Act. Governor 
Young's commission, signed by President Fillmore, 
and attested by Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, 
was dated September 28, 1850.* 

It was well into the summer of 1851 when the Fed- 




Bkigham Young, 
First Governor of the Territory of 
Utah, from 1850 to 1858. 



*The Governor, the Secretary, the Judges, the Attorney, and the 
Marshal, were to hold office for four years, and until their successors 
were elected and qualified, unless sooner removed by the power that 
appointed them. Each officer, before beginning his labors, was re- 
quired to take oath or affirmation, before a magistrate, to support the 



50 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

eral officers from the East arrived in Utah. They 
were given a cordial welcome. Judge Brocchus, after 
leaving the Iowa frontier, had been waylaid and 
robbed by Pawnee Indians. He was ill for some time 
after his arrival here, and was kindly cared for and 
nursed back to health at Salt Lake City. 



Constitution of the United States, and faithfully discharge the duties 
of his office. 

All acts of the Legislature had to receive the approving signa- 
ture of the Governor, before going into effect as laws. The Gover- 
nor held authority to commission all officers appointed under those 
laws. As the Chief Executive of the Territory, it was his duty to see 
that the laws were enforced and justice administered. He also had 
power to grant pardons and reprieves. He was Commander-in-Chief 
of the Militia, and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. 

The duty of the Secretary was to keep a record of all the laws 
and proceedings of the Legislature, and of all the official acts and 
proceedings of the Governor, and send copies of the same annually 
to the President and to Congress. As usual in the case of Terri- 
tories, Congress reserved the right to disapprove and annul any act 
passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor. In the ab- 
sence of the Governor, the Secretary could perform all the duties of 
the Executive office. 

The Territory was divided into three judicial districts, and each 
of the Federal Judges was to preside over one of those districts and 
hold court therein. The three Judges together constituted the Su- 
preme Bench of Utah. The Attorney and the Marshal were to at- 
tend to all United States business in the Supreme Court and in the 
District Courts. There were also probate courts — one for each 
county — and lesser courts presided over by justices of the peace. 

The Governor's salary was fifteen hundred dollars a year, with 
an additional one thousand dollars for his services in looking after 
the Indians. He was also allowed a thousand dollars annually for 
contingent expenses of the Territory. The salary of the Secretar.v, 
and of each of the three Judges, was eighteen hundred dollars a 
year. The Attorney and the Marshal, in addition to their salaries 
(which were merely nominal) were paid fees, according to 
services rendered. The Secretary had at his disposal money to 
meet the expenses of the Legislature, each member of which received 
three dollars a day during his attendance at the sessions, with mile- 
age. The sessions were held annually, and each was limited to 
forty days. 



THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT. 51 

The Provisional Government Dissolved. Mean- 
time, Governor Young had taken the oath of office 
and entered upon the discharge of his duties. In 
March he addressed a special message to the General 
Assembly of Deseret, suggesting the propriety of an 
early change from the Provisional to the Territorial 
form of government. Thereupon the Assembly ap- 
pointed the fifth of April as the time for the change to 
be made. On that date the General xA^ssembly was dis- 
solved, and the government of the State of Deseret 
was merged into that of the Territory of Utah. 

First Territorial Election. This change made desir- 
able the election of the members of the Legislature 
without further delay. It was necessary, also, that 
the Delegate to Congress should be chosen in time to 
enable him to cross the plains before the storms of 
winter set in. The Governor therefore took prompt 
action. He caused an enumeration of inhabitants to 
be made, as required by the Organic Act, which gave 
to all free, white, male American citizens residing in 
the Territory at the time of its organization, the right 
to vote at the first election. He then issued a procla- 
mation, appointing the fourth of August as the day 
for holding the election. It was held accordingly; 
1259 votes being cast.* 



*Salt Lake County elected six councilors and thirteen representa- 
tives ; Utah County, two councilors and three representatives ; We- 
ber County, two councilors and three representatives ; Davis County, 
one councilor and three representatives ; Iron County, one councilor 
and two representatives; Sanpete County, one councilor and one rep- 
resentative ; and Tooele County, one representative. 

Juab County was not then settled, and consequently had no repre- 
sentation. The first settler of that part— Uni<-ed States Marshal 
Heywood— founded Salt Creek (now Nephi), in September, 1851. 



52 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



The Delegate to Congress. The man chosen to 
represent Utah in Congress was Dr. John M. Bern- 
hisel. He was a gentleman of cnlture, well versed in 
the science of government, and a graduate from the 
medical department of the University of Pennsylva- 
nia. Utah had no poli- 
tical parties at that 
time. Delegate Bern- 
hisel was chosen by the 
united people of the 
Territory. 

The Legislature. The 
Legislative Assembly of 
the new Territory began 
its first session on the 
twenty-second of Sep- 
tember, 1851, at Salt 
Lake City. It declared 
all laws made under the 
Provisional Govern- 
ment, such as did not 
conflict with the Organ- 
Dr. John M. Bernhisel. ic Act, to be of full force 

and effect in the Territory of Utah. 

The Territorial Capital. It had been the intention 
to locate the capital of Utah at Salt Lake City, and 
Union Square had been ofifered as a site for the pro- 
posed public buildings.* But now it was decided to 
choose a more central location, and this led to the cre- 




*TJnion Square was afterwards given to the University of Deseret, 
which erected buildings thereon. Those buildings are now occupied 
by the High School of Salt Lake City. 



THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT. 53 



■ ^ 

^■ife - i- 





The State House, Fillmore. 



ation of the County of Millard and the City of Fill- 
more , both named in honor of the President of the 
United States. Preparatory to that event, Anson Call 
led a colony to Chalk Creek, in Pauvan Valley, one 
hundred and fifty miles south of Salt Lake City, and 
there, on the twenty-ninth of October, 1851, the City 
of Fillmore was laid out, and a site for the State 
House selected.* 



*The State House was begun, but never completed. The Legisla- 
ture held but one full session at Fillmore— that of 1855-1856. Several 
succeeding Legislatures met there, to conform to the law, but did no 
business, except to adjourn to Salt Lake City, where they could do 
their work more conveniently. Finally the capital was legally moved 
to Salt Lake City. Its location in Central Utah was found to be a mis- 
take, as the greater part of the population '.vas in the northern 
counties. 



54 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Retiring Officers. Chief Justice Brandebury, As- 
sociate Justice Brocchus, and Secretary Harris, had 
been but a short time in Utah, when they became dis- 
satisfied and returned to their homes in the East. 
They complained, among other things, of the small- 
ness of their salaries, which Congress had fixed in the 
Organic Act. In their report to the Government they 
assigned other reasons for leaving Utah, which will 
be referred to later. The Secretary of State request- 
ed them to return to their posts, or else resign. They 
chose the latter course. One of the earliest acts -of 
the Legislature was to petition Congress to fill the 
vacancies caused by these resignations. 

Temporary A p p o i n t- 
ments. Meantime, Willard 
Richards was appointed 
temporary Secretary by 
Governor Young, and 
Judge Snow was author- 
ized by the Legislature to 
hold court in all the dis- 
tricts. He began his la- 
bors in the Third Judicial 
District, at Salt Lake City, 
holding there, in the 
autumn of 1851, the First 
Federal court that this 
region had known. These 
temporary • appointments 
were sanctioned by the 
Government at Washing- 
President Franklin Pierce. ton. 




THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT. 55 

Vacancies Filled. The Federal officers who suc- 
ceeded Messrs. Brandebury, Brocchus and Harris, 
were Chief Justice Lazarus H. Reed, Associate Justice 
Leonidas Shaver, and Secretary Benjamin G. Ferris. 
Mr. Ferris arrived at Salt Lake City in the summer of 
1852, Judge Shaver in the autumn of that year, and 
Chief Justice Reed in the following June. All three 
were stranger? in Utah, but were welcomed by 
the people and treated with kindness and respect. 
The coming of the two magistrates was a great relief 
to Judge Snow, who for many months had been doing 
the work of three. Each district now had its own 
Judge, and the Supreme Bench of the Territory was 
complete.* 



*Secretary Ferris was the first of the new officers to retire. He 
spent six months in Utah, and then went to California. He was suc- 
ceeded temporarily by Willard Richards, again appointed by Gover- 
nor Young. The next to hold the office of Secretary was Almon W. 
Babbitt, who was appointed by the President of the United States. 

Judges Reed and Shaver remained several years in the Territory, 
and were held in high esteem by all the citizens. The death of Judge 
Shaver, at Salt Lake City, in 1855, was the occasion of a public fu- 
neral at the Council House. His death was caused by an abscess 
on the brain. Ex-Judge Reed died at his home in Bath, New York. 
His successor was Chief Justice John F. Kinney, of Iowa. Judge 
Shaver was succeeded by Associate Justice WiUiam W. Drummond, 
of Illinois ; and Judge Snow, by Associate Justice George P. Stiles, 
also from that State. 



56 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



5. Growth and Development. 

1852—1856. 

Extension of the Settlements. Five years the 
founders of Utah had been in the Great Basin. Wisely 
and well had they improved the time. Wherever a 
spring of water, bubbling up in some oasis of the 
desert, or the smallest stream flowing from the moun- 
tains, held out the least hope of agricultural success, 
there settlements had been formed or were in contem- 
plation. At the opening of 1852 a chain of towns and 
villages, encircled by farms and fields, extended from 
the neighborhood of Bear River on the north, south- 
ward a distance of four hundred miles. 

Civilization was also spreading east and west of Salt 
Lake Valley. The beginnings of Carson County (now 
in Nevada) had been made, and the Green River coun- 
try was about to be occupied by permanent settlers. 
The erection of public buildings and the establishment 
of mercantile, industrial, and educational enterprises 
kept pace with the growth and extension of the settle- 
ments. 

First Regular Mail Service. Every little town now 
had its post office, or a mail service of some kind. In 
July, 1850, a contract had been taken from the United 
States Government by Colonel Samuel H. Woodson, 
of Independence, Missouri, to carry a monthly mail 
between that point and Salt Lake City, where AA'illard 
Richards was the first to hold the office of Postmaster. 



GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 57 

Since the summer of 1851, Feramorz Little, a Utah 
man, had been carrying the mail over a portion of the 
route, under a sub-contract from Colonel Woodson. 
Mr. Little's associates were Charles F. Decker and 
Ephraim K. Hanks. The eastern end of their route 
was Fort Laramie, where the carriers from east and 
west aimed to meet on the fifteenth of every month. 
The undertaking was difficult and dangerous. Heavy 
snows, high waters, hostile Indians, and a hundred 
other perils were in the path; but obstacles that would 
have dismayed most men were grappled with and 
overcome by these hardy rangers of the mountains. 
At first only the mails were carried, but passenger 
traffic was soon added. 

Mercantile Affairs. Salt Lake City was, of course, 
the center of business activity. The first person 
outside the community to bring goods to this mar- 
ket for sale, was Captain Grant, of Fort Hall, who 
represented the Hudson Bay Company (1848-9). He 
sold sugar and coffee at one dollar a pint, calicoes at 
fifty and seventy-five cents a yard, and other articles 
in proportion. The next traders of note were Living- 
stone and Kinkead, a St. Louis firm, who brought a 
large stock of merchandise across the plains in the 
fall of 1849. They sold sugar and coffee at forty cents 
a pound, and better calicoes than Captain Grant's, at 
twenty-five cents a yard. A year later, Holladay and 
Warner, another eastern firm, opened a small store on 
South Temple Street. Their business was in charge 
of William H. Hooper, who afterwards became one of 
the leading financiers of Utah, and also served the 
Territory as Delegate in Congress. The senior part- 



58 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

ner of the last-named- firm was the noted Ben Hol- 
laday, who established in later years the Overland 
Stage Line. 

Quaint Advertisements. Some of the advertise- 
ments published in those early days read very quaint- 
ly now. For instance, John and Enoch Reese an- 
nounce that they ''have constantly on hand all neces- 
sary articles of comfort for the wayfarer; such as 
flour, hard bread, butter, eggs, vinegar, clothing, 
buckskin pants, whip-lashes, as well as a good assort- 
ment of store goods," at their "stqre near the Council 
House." Alexander Neibaur, surgeon dentist from 
Berlin and Liverpool, informs the public that he ''ex- 
amines and extracts teeth, besides keeping constantly 
on hand a supply of the best matches, manufactured 
by himself." William Hennefer caps the climax by 
proclaiming that he has just opened, in connection 
with his barber shop, an eating house, where his pat- 
rons will be accommodated with every edible luxury 
"the Valley" affords. William Nixon is particular to 
point out the precise locality of his "shop" — "at Jacob 
Houtz's house, on the southeast corner of Council 
House Street and Emigration Street, opposite to Mr. 
Orson Spencer's.* Mr. Nixon states that the goods 
he carries "will be sold cheap for cash, wheat or flour," 
which indicates, in part, the mixed character of the 
currency of that period. t 



*This was before the streets of Salt Lake City received their pres- 
ent names, and long before the houses were numbered. 

tWhat was considered "cheap," by the sellers of goods, may be 
seen from the following list : A small cooking stove cost from seventy- 
five to one hundred and fifty dollars ; glass, thirty to thirty-six dollars 
a box; writing paper, ten to twelve dollars a ream; photographs 



GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 59 

High Prices. Nothing in merchandise was cheap 
at that time. The prevaihng high prices induced some 
of the citizens, men of means and energy, to purchase 
their suppHes at wholesale in eastern markets, and 
freight them to Utah in their own wagons. In justice 
to the merchants who were accused of over-charging, 
it should be borne in mind that they were under very 
heavy expenses, and took great risks, in purchasing 
large stocks of goods and freighting them over vast 
distances through untold difficulties and perils. Con- 
scientious dealers, wherever they could afford a reduc- 
tion, cut down prices, out of consideration for the 
struggling people who were their patrons ; but some 
dealers seemed to have no conscience. They made 
four or five hundred per cent on every article sold, and 
allowed the farmer, the fruit grower, or the manufac- 
turer, as little as possible for produce or commodities 
taken in exchange. 

Barter and Exchange. These primitive business 
methods continued for many years. The dry goods 
and groceries of the merchant were exchanged for the 
products of farm, mill and workshop; and these, when 
not used at home, were turned into cash in distant 
markets. The dried fruit industry — as soon as Utah's 
fine young orchards began to bear — flourished on ev- 
ery hand. 

Manual Training and Home Industry. Much atten- 
tion was given to home manufacture. In his message 



four and five dollars each ; brown shirting and sheeting, twenty to 
thirty cents a yard ; hickory shirting, twenty-five to thirty cents ; 
Kentucky jeans, seventy-five cents to a dollar and a quarter; cotton 
flannel, thirty to forty cents; calico prints, twenty-five to fifty cents. 
All kinds of steel and iron ware were very expensive. 



60 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

to the Legislature, January, 1852, Governor Young 
said: ''Deplorable, indeed, must be the situation of 
that people whose sons are not trained in the prac- 
tice of every useful avocation, and whose daughters 
mingle not in the hive of industry." "Produce what 
you consume, draw from the native elements the nec- 
essaries of life." "Let home industry produce every 
article of home consumption." The Governor asked 
the Legislature to make laws that would protect the 
local industries, and also urged it to appropriate 
means to encourage the manufacturing interests. 

Mountains of coal and iron had been discovered in 
Southern Utah, and in the winter of 1853 the Des- 
eret Iron Company was chartered by the Legislature. 
Furnaces were erected and pig iron manufactured in 
Iron County. A nail factory and a woolen mill were 
started, and a sugar factory was projected.* Grist 
mills and saw mills were in operation all over the 
land. In places there were tanneries, foundries, cut- 
leries, potteries, and other industries. Among the 
earliest home-made articles were cloth, leather, hats, 
cordage, brushes, soap, matches, paper, ink, combs 
and cutlery. 

The Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing 
Society. This organization came into existence in 



*The machinery for the sugar plant was purchased in Liverpool at 
a cost of $12,500. It was brought to Utah by John Taylor, and set 
up in the southern suburbs of Salt Lake City. Sugar House Ward 
took its name from the attempt to establish there the beet sugar in- 
dustry. The attempt was not successful. 

Later, a good quality of sorghum was produced from the sugar 
cane, and its manufacture became general, wherever the cane could 
be grown. 



GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 61 

1856, and held the first of a long series of public ex- 
hibitions that year. Its purpose was to encourage 
home production, and foster the liberal and domes- 
tic arts. The culture of flax and silk, the raising of 
cotton and wool, and the making of cloth, thread, 
yarn, and other articles from these materials was 
earnestly and persistently advocated. The exhibition 
mentioned was the beginning of our Territorial Fairs, 
forerunners of the present State Fairs. 

Utah Asks for the Railroad and the Telegraph. The 

need of a railroad and a telegraph line across the con- 
tinent was sorely felt, and the Governor and the Leg- 
islature, as early as March, 1852, petitioned Congress 
for the establishment of both these mighty agents of 
civilization. It was suggested that the railroad start 
from some point on the Mississippi or the Missouri 
River, and pass through Salt Lake Valley to the Pa- 
cific Coast. Five thousand American citizens, it was 
believed, had perished on the different routes to the 
West, within three years, for want of proper means of 
transportation. The petition set forth that the open- 
ing of the Utah mines, and the further development of 
the mines of California, depended upon the construc- 
tion of such a road. The securing of the Asiatic and 
Pacific trade, and the uniting of the eastern and the 
western extremities of our nation, were also among 
the advantages mentioned. Utah agreed to supply, at 
reasonable rates, materials and provisions for the 
building of much of the road; also to furnish an ex- 
tensive trade after it should be completed. 

From that time forth, frequent petitions for the rail- 



62 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

road and the telegraph were sent to Congress from 
this Territory and other parts of the West.* 

Education. During this early, formative period, the 
cause of education was not neglected. Every village 
had its day and Sabbath school, and the cities and 
towns their larger institutions of learning. Until 
school houses could be built, some of the country 
schools were taught in tents and wagons. Sawed-off 
pieces of log served for seats, and wooden paddles or 
shingles, upon which were pasted printed letters cut 
from newspapers, took the place of alphabet charts. 
The log and lumber school houses of the ''fifties" were 
gradually superseded by buildings of adobe, brick and 
stone. The founding of the University of Deseret has 
been mentioned. It was now in abeyance, existing 
only in name, owing to scant means and limited pat- 
ronage. t 



*Delegate Bernhisel, when he presented Utah's first railroad me- 
morial to Congress, was smiled at and told that he was a hundred 
years ahead of the age. In reply, he invited his fellow members of 
the House of Representatives to ride over the road on its comple- 
tion, and visit him at his home in Salt Lake City. Twenty years 
later, some of them actually did so ; for by that time the great trans- 
continental railroad was an accomplished fact. 

tUnder the name of "The Parent School" (for a system of district 
schools was in prospect) the University opened its doors for the en- 
rollment of students in November, 1850. The first term was held 
in a long, low, adobe house, in the Seventeenth Ward of Salt Lake 
City , a house belonging to John Pack, a Pioneer. The second term 
opened in the Council House, the upper floor of that building being 
let for the purpose. The first instructor was Dr. Cyrus Collins, a 
sojourner in Utah, on his way to California. 

The charter, granted by the Provisional Government, February 
28, 1850, was ratified by the Territorial Legislature, October 4, 1851, 
and during the same year the department of instruction was discon- 
tinued. The Chancellor and Board of Regents were regularly elected 
by the Legislature, however, and continued to do good work in su- 
pervising the public schools. In 1867 the University revived, 



GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 



63 



The Deseret News. Utah had at that time but one 
newspaper, namely, the Deseret News, the first num- 
ber of which had come forth on the fifteenth of June, 
1850. It was then issued weekly, and Willard 
Richards was the editor. The paper was printed on a 
small, wrought iron, Ramage hand press, brought to 
Salt Lake Valley in one of the earliest immigrations.* 

The Territorial Li- 
brary. In 1852 the 
Territorial Library, for 
which Congress had ap- 
propriated five thousand 
dollars, was opened at 
the Council House, Wil- 
liam C. Saines being the 
Librarian. A large por- 
tion of the sum named 
had been expended in 
the East by Delegate 
Bernhisel, in the pur- 
chase of a choice selec- 
tion of books for the in- 
stitution. 

The Social Hall. At 
Salt Lake City was also 

erected, that year, the Social Hall, which, until the 
Salt Lake Theatre was built, was the principal place of 
amusement in Utah. It was opened on New Year's 




Pioneer Printing Press. 



*The first home of the Deseret News was a humble little adobe 
house on South Temple Street, just opposite the entrance to the 
Templeton Building. The Deseret Mint occupied a part of the same 
house. 



64 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Day, 1853, not with a dramatic performance, but with 
a grand ball. The first play presented was on the even- 
ing of the 17th of January.* Governor Young, who 
projected the Social Hall, believed the drama to have 




The Social Hall, Salt Lake City. 
a noble mission, and when not degraded, to be a po- 
tent factor for education. "The people must have 
amusements," he said, and any movement that fur- 



*This was not the beginning of our dramatic histor3^ As early 
as 1850, plays were produced at the "Old Bowery," a primitive struc- 
ture of adobes and timber which stood on the southeast corner of 
Temple Block. Next came the Musical and Dramatic Company, and 
then the Deseret Dramatic Association, organized in 1851. This 
talented combination, entirely of home people, became quite noted in 
the theatrical world. They were not actors by profession, but played 
for their own entertainment, and that of the general public, sup- 
porting traveling stars of the first magnitude. 



GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. 65 

nished wholesome recreation had his countenance and 
support. The Social Hall was used at times by the 
Legislature, and some sessions of the Third District 
Court were also held there.* 

The Old Tabernacle. A notable building of that 
period was the Old Tabernacle, so named after 
the present Tabernacle w^as erected. It stood where 
the Assembly Hall now stands, and was completed in 
April, 1852. It was of stone and adobes, and seated 
about three thousand people. Up to the time when 
the Old Tabernacle w^as built, religious gatherings 
were held in "The Bowery" — not the structure used 
as a theatre, but another like it, also on Temple Block. 

The Salt Lake Temple. In February, 1853, ground 
was broken for the Salt Lake Temple, and on the sixth 
oi April the corner stones of that edifice were put in 
|ilace with imposing ceremonies. An immense throng- 
witnessed the proceedings. This structure was des- 
tined to cost over two million dollars, and to require 
forty years for its completion. Truman O. Angell 
was the architect. The work proceeded slowly, and 
was much interrupted , limited means being one of the 
causes. 

Until the coming of the railroad, every stone tha' 
went into the construction of the Temple was hauled 
by oxen a distance of nearly twenty miles. At first 
it was decided to build the Temple of Red Butte stone 
and adobes, and a wooden railway was laid to the can- 

*At one time the Legislature and the District Court occupied the 
Hall simultaneously. The Council sat upon the stage, the House 
in the auditorium, and the Court in the dressing room under the 
stage. 



06 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



yon for that purpose ; but afterwards the Cottonwood 
granite was chosen instead. The cutting and chisel- 
ing of the huge boulders into shape, with other work 
about the grounds, gave employment to many me- 
chanics and laborers who were continually arriving 
from abroad. These workmen were paid mostly in 
produce — flour, meat, grain, potatoes, butter, eggs 




Salt Lake City in 1853. 



and other products, with home manufactured articles 
and a little cash or merchandise. 

Counties and Towns. In 1853 the counties of Utah, 
with their respective settlements, were as follows; 
Great Salt Lake County — Great Salt Lake City, But- 
terfield. West Jordan, Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood, 
South Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood, and Willow 
Creek. Davis County — North Canyon, Centerville, 
North Cottonwood, and Kay's Ward. Weber Coun- 
ty — • Dgden, East Weber, Willow Creek, and Box El- 



GROWTH AN13 DEVELOPMEMT. 6? 

cler. Utah County — Provo, Dry Creek, American 
Fork, Pleasant Grove, Mountainville, Springville, 
Palmyra, Peteetneet, Summit Creek, and Cedar Val- 
ley. Sanpete County — Manti, Pleasant Creek, and 
Ailred's Settlement. Juab County — Salt Creek. 
Tooele County — Tooele and Grantsville. Millard 
County — Fillmore. Iron County — Parowan and Ce- 
dar.* 

In January, 1854, the Legislature organized the 
counties of Carson, Summit and Green River.f In 
1855 Morgan County was settled, and colonies were 
sent to Grand River and Salmon River, the latter now 
in Idaho. During the winter of 1855-1856, Cache and 
Box Elder counties were created.! 

The Territory Asks for Statehood. The white pop- 
ulation of Utah now numbered about twenty-five thou- 



*Some of these titles have been changed. Great Salt Lake County 
and City were shortened by legislative enactment (January 29, 1868) 
to Salt Lake County and City. Butterfield and Willow Creek, in Salt 
Lake County, are now Herriman and Draper. The second Willow 
Creek is now Willard. North Canyon became Sessions Settlement. 
and then Bountiful. North Cottonwood was re-named Farmington ; 
Kay's Ward, Kaysville ; East Weber, Uintah ; and Box Elder, Brig- 
ham City. Dry Creek has changed to Lehi, Mountainville to Alpine, 
Peteetneet to Payson, Summit Creek to Santaquin, Pleasant Creek, 
to Mount Pleasant; Ailred's Settlement, to Spring City; and Salt 
Creek, to Nephi. 

tCarson Valley received its pioneers in 1850 or 1851. A settler 
built a saw mill in Parley's Park early in 1853 ; and late in the au- 
tumn of that year a colony, under Orson Hyde, founded Fort Sup- 
ply, on Green River. This post was about ten miles from Fort 
Bridger, which, with adjoining lands, had recently been purchased 
by Governor Young. 

$The pioneer of Morgan County was Jedediah Morgan Grant, the 
first Mayor of Salt Lake City. The pioneer of Cache County was 
Peter Maughan. Lorenzo Snow, though not the pionere, was the most 
prominent character in the founding of Box Elder County. 



68 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



sand. Her people desired Statehood, and in March, 
1856, a Constitutional Convention assembled at Salt 
Lake City and petitioned Congress for the admission 
of the Territory into the Union, as the State of Des- 
eret. The prayer was denied. 




AIain Street, Salt Lake City, in Early Times. 



AN INDIAN UPRISING. 69 



6. An Indian Uprising. 

1853—1855. 

The Walker War. During a portion of the pe- 
riod covered by the preceding chapter, the work of 
colonizing in Central and Southern Utah was inter- 
rupted by an Indian war. It broke out in the sum- 
mer of 1853, and was called the Walker War; the Ute 
chief, Walker (or Walkara), being at the head and 
front of the hostiles. 

This chief was naturally quarrelsome and blood- 
thirsty, and until he learned that the settlers meant no 
harm but only good to him and his people, he gave 
them considerable trouble. His name was a terror 
to the whites as far west as the settlements of Cali- 
fornia, which he raided and robbed at will, returning 
with his plunder to the mountains of Utah. He was 
also feared and hated by other tribes of Indians. 
Walker was not a noble character, like Sownette, but 
made up for wdiat he lacked in true nobility by savage 
fierceness and that scornful pride that sometimes 
passes for dignity. 

Walker and Sowiette. When the Pioneers were 
approaching Salt Lake Valley, it being known that 
they intended to found settlements in this region, the 
question of how^ the new-comers should be treated 
came up for consideration at a large Ute encampment 



70 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 







in Spanish Fork Canyon. Sowiette counseled peace 
and friendship, while Walker raised his voice for war 
and extermination. Most of the young men of the 

tribe stood with him. 
The debate grew warm, 
and finally Walker inti- 
mated that Sowiette was 
a coward. The peace- 
loving sachem could en- 
dure no more. Seizing a 
whip, he advanced upon 
the insulter and gave 
him a sound flogging. 
There was no more talk 
of Sowiette's cowardice, 
and his peace counsel 
prevailed.* 

Then followed the 
friendly visit of the two 
chiefs to Salt Lake Val- 
ley, as previously relat- 
ed. But now Walker 
was again on the war-path, and it was suspected that 
renegade white men had incited him. 




Chief Washakie. 



*Tradition tells of a similar encounter between Walker and Wash- 
akie, a noble chief of the Shoshones. The latter, angered by the 
Ute, dared him to mortal combat. Walker did not respond. Wash- 
akie then called him "a dog," and snatching from him his tomahawk, 
hurled it away in scorn and contempt ; the Ute warrior still declin- 
ing to fight. 

A staunch friend to the settlers, was this same Washakie, and 
his good will was prized. More than once, when a boy, the author 
saw him and his visiting bands supplied with bread and beeves by 
the authorities at Salt Lake City. 



AN INDIAN UPRISING. '7i 

Mexican Slave Traders. As early as November, 
1851, public attention had been called to the fact that 
one Pedro Leon and a party of about twenty Spanish 
Mexicans were in Sanpete Valley, trading horses for 
Indian children and fire-arms. They had licenses 
signed by the Governor of New Mexico, authorizing 
them to trade with the Ute Indians, ''in all their vari- 
ous localities." As this included Utah, the Deseret 
News criticized the conduct of that officer, and 
charged that the purchase and removal of Indian chil- 
dren from Utah to any other State or Territory, con- 
stituted the crime of kidnapping. The News also 
took the position that if those traders were purchas- 
ing arms and ammunition to supply the Navajo In- 
dians, who were at war with the United States, it 
would be treason, according to the letter of the Con- 
stitution. 

This criticism had no effect upon the slave-traders, 
except to make them more defiant. They declared 
that they would do just as they pleased, regardless of 
law and authority. Pedro Leon and seven of his as- 
sociates were arrested and tried before a justice of the 
peace at Manti, and finally their case came before 
Judge Snow, in the District Court at Salt Lake City. 
The Judge decided against the Mexicans, and the In- 
dian slaves in their possession — a squaw and eight 
children — were set free.* The traders were ordered to 



♦Governor Young, in his message to the Legislature (January, 
1852), had referred to the Indian slave trade carried on by the Mex- 
ican inhabitants of New Mexico and California. He stated that he 
had endeavored to prevent its extension into Utah. He was op- 
posed to all traffic in human flesh. "No property," said he, "can 
or should be recognized as existing in slaves, either Indian or Afri- 
can." 



72 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

leave the Territory, and to revenge themselves, they 
stirred up the savages against the settlers. 

A Proclamation Issued. Governor Young, on the 
twenty-third of April, 1853, issued a proclamation, 
calling attention to the tactics of the slave-traders, 
who were furnishing the Indians with guns and am- 
munition, contrary to the laws of Utah and of the 
United States. He ordered Captain Wall, with thirty 
mounted men, to reconnoiter the southern country, 
and warn the inhabitants against any sudden surprise. 
The Captain was directed to arrest every strolling 
Mexican party, or any other suspicious persons. He 
was to move with due caution, avoid ambush, and 
keep the Governor informed of all his movements. 
In the same proclamation the militia of the Territory 
was instructed to be in readiness to march to any 
point at a moment's notice. This order was especially 
applicable to the body of cavalry called ''Minute 
Men." 

The War Begins. An Indian Whipped. A White 
Man Killed. For several months before the begin- 
ning of the Walker War, the restless and turbulent 
Ute chieftain, who could be pleasant and gracious at 
times, had worn a surly air, and was believed to be 
looking for some pretext to attack the settlers. As 
usual in such cases, the pretext was found, the de- 
sired provocation given. 

A resident of Springville, in Utah County, saw an 
Indian whipping his squaw, and interfered in her be- 
half, severely punishing the wife-beater, who is said to 
have died from the effects of the chastisement. 



AN INDIAN UPRISING. 73 

Walker and his brother Arapeen, with their bands, 
were then encamped on Peteetneet Creek, at the 
mouth of the canyon above Payson. The Indian who 
had been whipped was one of their tribe. Walker, in 
great anger, at first threatened Springville, but find- 
ing the people there on their guard, he turned his at- 
tention elsewhere. 

On the eighteenth of July a number of his warriors 
rode down to Fort Payson. The inhabitants received 
them kindly, and as usual gave them food. The In- 
dians made no hostile movement until evening, when, 
as they were leaving the fort, they shot and killed 
Alexander Keel, who was standing guard outside. 
Hastening back to camp, they told Walker what they 
had done. He at once ordered his tribesmen to pack 
their wigwams and retreat into the mountains. Sev- 
eral white families were then living in Payson Can- 
yon, and upon these the savages fired as they passed, 
l)ut were in too great a hurry to do serious harm. 

Operations in Utah and Sanpete Valleys. The peo- 
ple of Payson, expecting a general attack, flew to 
arms, and were soon joined by detachments of militia 
from Spanish Fork, Springville, and Provo. It was 
decided to follow the Indians, who, it was feared, in- 
tended to raid the Sanpete settlements. Leaving the 
infantry to garrison Fort Payson, Colonel Conover 
with the cavalry at once started for Manti. General 
Wells, at Salt Lake City, having been informed of the 
situation, sent a hundred mounted men to reinforce 
Conover. 

Meantime attacks had been made by the Indians at 
various points, and they were raiding and running off 



?4 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

stock in all directions. Near Mount Pleasant, a por- 
tion of Conover's command, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Jabez Nowlin, were fired upon by a band of 
twenty or thirty Indians. They returned the fire, and 
the savages broke and fled, leaving six or seven of 
their number dead upon the field. Nowlin's company 
sustained no loss. 

Running the Gauntlet. Colonel Conover now sent 
messengers to Salt Lake City requesting further or- 
ders from General AVells. The messengers were 
Clark Roberts and John W. Berry. Leaving Manti 
on the twenty-third of July, they reached Santaquin 
next morning, and found the place deserted. The set- 
tlers, fearing attack and massacre, had sought safety 
at Payson. As the messengers rode through the 
town, they were fired upon by Indians concealed in 
the houses. Berry was shot in the wrist and Roberts 
through the shoulder. Putting spurs to their horses 
they rode at full speed toward Payson, pursued by the 
savages, from whom they succeeded in escaping. 

Measures of Defense. On the twenty-fifth of July 
Colonel George A. Smith was placed in command of 
all the militia south of Salt Lake City, with instruc- 
tions to take prompt and thorough measures for the 
defense and safety of the imperiled settlements. He 
was directed to gather all the inhabitants into forts, 
to corral their stock, and surround it with armed 
guards. No offensive warfare upon the Indians was 
to be permitted, but those caught attempting to kill 
or steal were to be summarily punished. Colonel 
Smith carried out his instructions, and the wisdom of 
this policy of defense and conciliation was soon man- 



AN INDIAN UPRISING. 75 

ifest. The settlers who failed to heed the advice suf- 
fered heavily from the raids of the savages.* Spring 
City, in Sanpete County, whose people neglected to 
build a fort and corral their stock, lost in one raid two 
hundred head of cattle. Later, the entire settlement 
was destroyed. 

Typical Indian Outrages. On the seventeenth of 
August, Parley's Canyon, east of Salt Lake Valley, was 
the scene of an Indian outrage. Four men — John Dix- 
on, John Quayle, John Hoagland and John Knight 
— were hauling lumber from Sn3^der's saw-mill in Par- 
ley's Park, and had reached the vicinity of "The Sum- 
mit," when they were fired upon by Indians in am- 
bush. Quayle and Dixon were instantly killed. Hoag- 
land was wounded in the arm, but was able to help 
Knight unhitch two of their horses upon which they 
rode in haste to Salt Lake City. Barely escaping 
with their lives, they were compelled to leave be- 
hind them the dead bodies of their companions. John 
Dixon, one of the victims of this tragedy, was a Pio- 
neer of 1847. 

A similar event occurred in Juab County, on the 
first day of October. William Reed, James Nelson, 
William Luke, and Thomas Clark had started from 
Manti with a couple of wagons, loaded with wheat for 
Salt Lake City. They had reached Uintah Springs, a 
little east of Salt Creek Canyon, when, early on the 



*About this time Governor Young sent a written message to the 
Ute chief, addressing him as "Captain Walker," and telling him that 
he was "a fool for fighting his best friends." With the message, 
went a gift of tobacco, and the promise of a further peace-offering of 
flour and beef cattle, if the chief would "send some friendly Indian 
down to the settlements." 



1(^ THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

morning- of the clay mentioned, their camp was at- 
tacked by Indians. All four were killed, and their 
bodies mutilated. To travel from settlement to set- 
tlement, unless accompanied by a strong guard, was 
now extremely perilous.* 

Other Tribes Take Part. Although the Ute In- 
dians had begun the war, other tribes caught the in- 
fection and began shooting men and killing stock in 
various parts of the Territory. At F'illmore, on the 
thirteenth of September, William Hatton, while 
standing guard, was shot and killed by Pauvant In- 
dians. Saw-mills, grist-mills and other buildings, 
temporarily abandoned by the settlers, were burned 
by the dusky marauders at different points. 

The Gunnison Massacre. A most painful episode 
of that period was the Gunnison massacre (October 
26)- Captain John W. Gunnison, who, as a Lieutenant 
in the Topographical Engineers, had first visited Salt 
Lake Valley with Captain Stansbury in 1849, re- 
turned to this region in 1853 to survey a route for a 
railroad. The route crossed the Green and Grand 
River valleys and, west of the Wasatch Mountains, 
turned northward. Poor Gunnison had passed the 
mountains and was following down the Sevier River, 
when his terrible fate overtook him. 

The Provocation. The Pauvant Indians in that 
region had a grievance, a greater one than had pro- 
voked the Walker War. A few weeks before Cap- 



*T)ie authorities of Salt Lake City decided to build a "Spanish 
wall" around the town, as a means of defense and an example to 
the outlying settlements. It was to be twelve feet high, and entirely 
of earth. Fragments of this old-time barrier — which was never com- 
pleted—are still to be seen on the northern outskirts of the city. 



AN INDIAN UPRISING. 11 

tain Gunnison came along, a company of emigrants 
from Missouri, on their way to California, had en- 
camped at Fillmore. Hearing of the Indian outrages 
all around them, they vowed to kill the first savage 
who came into their camp. Judge Anson Call, the 
leading man at Fillmore, remonstrated with them a- 
gainst so unjust an act. as some of the Indians were 
friendly; but the Missourians carried out their threat, 
shooting and killing two Indians and wounding three 
others. These were friendly Pauvants, who had come 
to beg food and clothing, and were roughly ordered 
away by some of the emigrants. Refusing to go, they 
were assaulted, a scuffle ensued, and several rifles 
were discharged, with the result stated. The Indians 
were armed only with bows and arrows. Captain 
Hildreth, who commanded the emigrant train, 
much regretted the fatality, wdiich occurred while he 
was absent from camp. 

Indian Revenge. No reparation was made, and the 
relatives of the slain Indians sought revenge. As the 
emigrants were then beyond reach, having proceeded 
on their w^ay, the avengers, according to savage cus- 
tom, attacked the next party of white men who passed 
through their country. That party was the one led 
by Captain Gunnison.* 



*Under Captain Gunnison were Lieutenant E. Beckwith, of the 
Topographical Engineers; R. H. Kern and J. A. Snyder, topograph- 
ers; F. Creutzfeldt, botanist; S. Romans, astronomer; Dr. James 
Schiel, surgeon and geologist; also Captain R. M. Morris and a 
small company of mounted riflemen, who acted as escort and guard 
to the expedition. There were also a number of employes, including 
William Potter, a resident of Manti, who was Gunnison's guide. 

Shortly after the killing of the Pauvants, Judge Call met Captain 
Gunnison and told him of the occurrence. The Captain expressed 



/8 THE MAktNG OP A STATE. 

On the twenty-fourth of October the surveying ex- 
pedition encamped on the east bank of Sevier River, 
about fifteen miles above the point w^here it flows into 
Sevier Lake. Next morning, at Captain Gunnison's 
request, Lieutenant Beckwith and Captain Morris, 
with the main portion of the command, explored the 
country up the river, while Gunnison, with a few men, 
crossed to the west bank and followed the stream 
down. On the evening of the twenty-fifth he made 
his camp in a bend of the river, under one of the 
banks, where they were protected from chilly winds 
by an enclosure of willows. The spot was just at the 
head of Sevier Lake, where a reconnoisance was to 
begin on the morrow. The party consisted of Captain 
Gunnison, Messrs. Kern and Creutzfeldt, the guide 
Potter, another employee named James Bellows, and 
a Corporal with six riflemen. 

Long before sunrise the camp was astir, and most 
of the men were at breakfast, when suddenly rang out 
the war whoop of a numerous band of savage? who 
had crept unseen upon the encampment. From the 
willows, they poured volley after volley of rifle shots, 
mingled with arrows, in among the campers. A call 
to arms was sounded and the little band fought gal- 
lantly, killing one Indian and wounding another; but 
a successful defense under the circumstances was im- 
possible, and very soon, of the twelve members of the 
party, eight had fallen. 

Among the first of these was Captain Gunnison. 



keen regret and remarked : "The Indians are sure to take their re- 
venge." He was well acquainted with their customs, having studied 
and written upon the subject. 



AM iNbiAN Uprising. f9 

who, after the opening fire, rushed from his tent, 
raised his hands to the Indians and called out to them 
that he was their friend. He fell pierced with arrows 
and rifle balls. Messrs. Kern, Creutzfeldt and Potter, 
with riflemen Liptrott, Caulfield and Merhteens, were 
also slain. One of the four who escaped, was the Cor- 
poral, who managed to secure one of the horses. Hot- 
ly pursued by the Indians part way, he rode 
with all speed to the point where the company had di- 
vided the day before. There his horse gave out and 
he ran on foot most of the fourteen miles still between 
him and the camp of Lieutenant Beckwith. He ar- 
rived exhausted, barely able to communicate the 
frightful news.* 

Honor to the Dead. Captain Gunnison was buried 
at Fillmore. His murder was a shock and a sorrow 
to the whole community. Governor Young referred 
to it feelingly in his next message to the Legislature. 
The Captain had endeared himself to the people of 
Utah, and the town of Gunnison, in Sanpete County, 
was afterwards named in his honor.f 



*The account here given of the massacre is condensed from the 
report of Lieutenant Beckwith, who succeeded Captain Gunnison 
in command of the expedition and completed the work by him be- 
gun. 

tSeveral Indians were arrested for the Gunnison massacre, and 
tried in the District Court at Nephi, Chief Justice Kinney presiding 
(1854-1855). The court was under the protection of United States 
soldiers, detailed for that purpose by Colonel E. J. Steptoe, who, 
with his command, numbering about two hundred men, was spending 
the winter in Utah, on his way to California. The protection was 
deemed necessary, as a band of one hundred Ute warriors was 
camped near by, watching with interest the progress of the trial. 
Three Indians were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in the 
penitentiary. 



sc 



THF MAKING OF A STATE. 



A Peace Council. In May, 1854, Governor Young 
and other leading men visited Central and South- 
ern Utah, coming in contact with some of the native 

tribes, and doing all in 
their power to gain the 
good will, even of the 
hostiles. The Governor 
took with him several 
wagon-loads of presents, 
designed especially for 
Walker and his bands. A 
meeting between the 
Governor and the Chief 
took place on Chicken 
Creek (now Levan), in 
Juab County. Walker 
was attended by his 
principal braves, and the 
Governor by his of^cial 
escort. The Pauvant 
chief, Kanosh, and some 
of his tribesmen, were also present. After a long talk, 
and the smoking of the pipe of peace, a treaty was en- 
tered into and hostilities ceased.* 




Chief Kanosh 



*At the peace council the two parties sat facing each other from 
opposite sides of an Indian tepee. Among the Governor's gifts was 
a quantity of tobacco. From the sack containing it, General Wells 
tossed to each warrior a plug of the article. This action, though not 
meant to offend, was very displeasing to the Ute chieftain. His eyes 
blazed with anger and he refused to lift his piece of tobacco from 
where it lay. He remarked that he would not have a present thrown 
to him, like a bone to a cur. The General good-naturedly made 
amends by taking a new plug of tobacco and presenting it to Walker 
with a polite bow. The Chief's anger was at once dispelled. He ad- 



AN INDIAN UPRISING. 81 

Losses of the War. So ended the Walker War, dur- 
ing which a score of white people and many Indians 
had been killed. Several small settlements had been 
broken up, the inhabitants seeking refuge in the larger 
towns and in the forts, leaving their houses and im- 
provements to the mercies of the marauders. Santa- 
quin and Spring City suffered most severely, the lat- 
ter being burned to the ground. In addition to pri- 
vate losses, estimated at two hundred thousand dol- 
lars, the war cost the Territory about seventy thou- 
sand dollars. 

Death of Chief Walker. Within a year after the 
close of the strife the Ute chieftain died at Meadow 
Creek, Millard County. He had finally become con- 
vinced that the people of Utah were his friends. The 
peace treaty between him and Governor Young was 
faithfully kept. Walker was succeeded by his brother 
Arapeen. 



mitted that Governor Young was a "big chief," but insisted that he 
was a "big chief too," and illustrated their equality by holding up 
both his thumbs, one as high as the other. 

Brigham Young's first term as Governor expired in September of 
that year, and he was re-appointed for another four years by Pres- 
ident Franklin Pierce. 



82 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



7. A Year of Calamities. 

1856. 

Grasshoppers and Crop Failures. Eighteen hun- 
dred and fifty-six was a year of calamities for Utah. 

The crops of two seasons 
had failed, and another 
famine threatened the 
people. The crop failure 
of 1854 was owing to a 
visitation of grasshop- 
pers, which were almost 
if not quite as destruc- 
tive as the crickets. Un- 
like those voracious pests 
they had wings and could 
fly beyond the reach of 
their pursuers. The following year the locusts re- 
turned, and during the summer, in many parts of the 
land, they devoured every green thing visible. 

Drouth, Frost and Famine. Added to that plague 
there was a serious drouth, which well nigh completed 
the work of devastation. Then came the winter — 
one of the severest ever known in Utah, burying the 
grazing lands under heavy snows and causing the 
death of thousands of animals, Many of them were 




Gkasshoppers, or Locusts. 



A YEAR OF CALAMITIES. 



83 



beef cattle that would have supplied the market next 
season. The loss in horses and sheep was also heavy. 
During the early months of the new year the peo- 
ple suffered much privation. Many, as before, w^ere 
driven to the necessity of digging and eating roots — 
the sego, the artichoke, and other wild grow^ths — to 
eke out an existence until harvest time. 

Ministering to the 
Needy. All were not 
alike destitute. Some, 
foreseeing the straitness, 
had provided against it. 
Their bins and barns 
were full, while others 
w-ere empty. Those wdio 
had, gave to those wdio 
had not, and the full 
larders and store-houses 
were drawn upon to sup- 
ply the needy and pre- 
vent suffering. Among 
the most provident and 
the most benevolent 
w^ere Heber C. Kimball, 
at Salt Lake City, and 
John NefT,on Mill Creek. 
These men and others stood like so many Josephs in 
Egypt to the hungry multitude. They took no advan- 
tage of their neighbors. Where they did not give out- 
right, as was often the case, they sold at moderate 




Heber C. Kimball. 



84 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

prices their beef and bread-stuffs to those who were 
al)]e to reimburse them.* 

The Tintic War. To add to the general distress, 
some of the Indians again became troublesome. In 
one of their outbreaks a sub-chief of the Utes named 
Tintic was the leader. The hostiles inhabited Tintic 
Valley and Cedar Valley, west of Utah Lake. Lack- 
ing food, they began to steal cattle from the herds in 
that vicinity. They also shot and killed two herds- 
men. 

A posse of ten men, armed with writs issued from 
the District Court at Provo, set out for Cedar Valley 
to arrest the murderers. They met with determined 
resistance, and an Indian named Battest was killed. A 
general fight followed, in which George Carson, one 
of the posse, received a mortal wound. On the other 
side a squaw was killed and the chief Tintic wounded. 

A few days later the savages slew four men south- 
west of Utah Lake. A force of cavalry under Colonel 
Conover was now ordered out by the Governor. They 
crossed the lake on the ice and went in pursuit of the 
Indians, who fled at their approach, leaving behind 
them the stolen cattle. This ended the ''Tintic War," 
the most serious difficulty with the red men since the 
close of the Walker War. 

While these savages were Utes, they were rene- 
gades from their tribe, for whose acts the main body 
was not responsible. The same may be said of a band 



*When flour commanded as high as a dollar a pound these big- 
souled men would not accept more than six cents a pound ; nor 
would they sell at all except to those in need, refusing to speculate 
themselves or encourage others to speculate out of the necessities 
of the poor. 



I 



A YEAR OF CALAMITIES. 85 

of Yampa Utes who, in September, 1855, had broken 
up the settlement on Grand River, kilHng three men 
and wounding another, besides burning hay and steal- 
ing cattle.* As a whole the Utes respected the treaties 
made by their chiefs with the authorities of the Terri- 
tory. So also did the Shoshones, who had at last 
made peace with their ancient foes, the Utes, through 
the influence of Governor Young and other leading 
citizens. 

Secretary Babbitt Slain. The Indians on the 
plains, however, were now hostile, attacking and rob- 
bing trains and killing travelers. Among those slain 
east of the Rocky Mountains was Colonel Almon W. 
Babbitt, Secretary of Utah, who was returning from 
an official visit to the City of Washington. In August 
his train, loaded with Government property, was at- 
tacked and plundered by Cheyenne Indians near 
Wood River, now in Nebraska. Two of the four team- 
sters were killed and another wounded. The savages 
wounded and carried off a Mrs. Wilson, and slew her 
child. Colonel Babbitt was not with his train, but was 
killed, supposedly by Cheyennes, east of Fort 
Laramie, a few weeks later. 

The Margetts-Cowdy Massacre. Another outrage 
by Indians of the same tribe occurred one hundred 
and twenty-five miles west of Fort Kearney. Thomas 
Margetts and wife, James Cowdy, wife and child, all 
from Salt Lake City, were crossing the plains on their 



*The Grand River settlement was founded by a company from 
Manti, to which place the survivors returned. Their fort stood near 
the site of the present town of Moab. The settlement on Salmon 
River lasted about two years, and was then destroyed in like manner. 



86 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

way to England. They had a covered wagon, two 
mules and two riding horses. After leaving Fort Lar- 
amie they were joined by Henry Bauichter, a dis- 
charged United States soldier, who traveled with 
them as far as the scene of the tragedy. On the sixth 
of September he and Mr. Margetts left camp to go 
hunting, and early in the afternoon they succeeded in 
killing a bison. A bluff was between them and the 
wagon, the latter a mile and a half away. Margetts 
took a portion of the meat to camp, and half an hour 
later Bauichter, having secured more of it, followed. 
As soon as he saw the wagon he noticed that the cover 
was gone, and on approaching nearer beheld to his 
horror the bodies of Mr. Margetts, Mr. and Mrs. Cow- 
dy and their child, lying on the ground. All were dead 
but the child, and it was wounded and dying. Mrs. 
Margetts was missing. None of the bodies were 
scalped. No shots had been heard, but an arrow w^as 
sticking in Cowdy's thigh. In the distance, riding 
rapidly away, was a band of about a dozen Indians. 
The mules and horses had been taken and the wagon 
plundered. 

The Hand-Cart Emigration. Following these trag- 
edies came another, more terrible still. It was the 
historic hand-cart disaster, in which about two hun- 
dred emigrants, bound for Utah and belated upon the 
storm-swept plains, lost their lives. All or most of 
these emigrants were from Europe, the companies 
being composed of English, Scotch and Scandinavians. 

The project of using hand-carts for the overland 
journey from the frontier, originated in Utah. It 
was estimated as much cheaper and more expeditious 



A YEAR OF CALAMITIES. 



87 



to cross the plains with hand-carts, than with ox 
teams and wagons. Nine pounds, English money, 
(equal to about forty-five dollars) was the hand-cart 
rate from Liverpool to Salt Lake City. The carts, 
made on the frontier, could carry the baggage and 
provisions, and the stronger men could pull them. The 
idea, though novel, was not startling, since most of 




A Hand Cart Company. 



the travelers to Utah, while having teams to draw 
their heavy wagons, had been trudging afoot, year 
after year, almost the entire journey west from the 
Missouri River. The plan was feasible, and except in 
the case of two companies that started late in the sea- 
son, it proved successful. 

Three Companies Arrive Safe. The first of the 
hand-cart companies to arrive in Utah were two led 



SS THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

by Edmund Ellsworth and Daniel D. McArthur. They 
left Iowa City — their outfitting point — one on the 
ninth and the other on the eleventh of June ; each with 
nearly five hundred persons, one hundred hand-carts, 
and a few ox and mule wagons. Men, women, and 
children walked most of the way, wading rivers, cross- 
ing deserts, and climbing mountains, a distance of 
thirteen hundred miles. A few deaths occurred among 
the aged and sickly, but the great body arrived safe 
and in good condition. 

The journey had taken a little over three months, 
and could have been made in less time, but for the 
breaking down of some of the hand-carts, which had 
been made of unseasoned timber, and were unable to 
bear the strain of the long trip over the sandy, sun- 
heated plains. The date of departure from the fron- 
tier depended entirely on the readiness of the hand- 
carts that were manufactured for the use of the emi- 
grants. Many of the carts were not ready when need- 
ed, and this caused some delay at the beginning. The 
date of arrival at Salt Lake City was the twenty-sixth 
of September. A third hand-cart company, under 
Captain Edward Bunker, reached the city on the sec- 
ond of October. Two others, traveling in like man- 
ner, were still on the plains. 

The Belated Emigrants. The two belated hand- 
cart companies were in charge of James G. Willie and 
Edward Martin. Captain Willie left Iowa City on the 
fifteenth of July, and passed the Missouri River early 
in August. Captain Martin was about two weeks be- 
hind him. Although late in starting — owing to some 
mischance for which they were not responsible — there 



YEAR OF CALAMITIES. 89 

was still time for both companies to have reached the 
end of their journey in safety, or with little suffering, 
but for the early advent of another unusually severe 
winter. 

Its approach being felt in Utah, early in October 
relief parties were organized and sent out to meet the 
emigrants. Taking with them wagon loads of cloth- 
ing, bedding, and provisions, scores of brave men, at 
the risk of their own lives, went forth to rescue their 
unfortunate fellows, struggling through the deep 
snows and piercing winds along the Platte and the 
Sweetwater. 

The story told by the survivors of the hand-cart dis- 
aster is pathetic in the extreme. Its recital brings 
tears to the eyes of the tender-hearted listener. The 
full tale of the sufferings endured by the emigrants 
before relief could reach them, and of the heroism of 
those who rescued hundreds from the fate that befell 
their companions, has never been uttered by tongue 
or pen. Part of the narrative follows.* 

The Story of the Survivors. Men and women, pull- 
ing their loaded hand-carts, carrying their little chil- 
dren or helping along the aged and feeble, traveled on 
in misery and sorrow day after day. At times they 
made fairly good progress, but at others, only a few 
miles between sunrise and sundown. Thinly clad and 
poorly fed, they were ill prepared for the hardships of 
the long and wearisome journey. When provisions 
became low, they were put upon rations, which grad- 

*John Chislett, who was in Captain Willie's company, and John 
Jacques, who was with Martin's command, both published graphic 
accounts of their experience in the hand-cart emigration. 



90 THE MAKING OF A STATE 

iially grew less as the emigrants grew hungrier and 
weaker. 

Early in the journey the hand-carts began to break 
down. Many of them had been made with wooden 
axles and leather boxes, and soon became rickety and 
unserviceable, especially on the rough roads leading 
to the mountains. Frequent repairs were necessary, 
and this meant additional delay. There being no axle 
grease in camp, some of the emigrants used their 
supply of bacon to lubricate the vehicles. Unable, 
at last, to draw the heavy loads, they were compelled 
to lighten their luggage by casting away bedding and 
clothing that were needed more and more as the 
weather became colder. Death after death occurred, 
until the path of the pilgrims could be traced by a trail 
of new-made graves. 

One day it began to snow, and the shrill winds blew 
furiously about the worn and weary travelers, faint 
from hunger and benumbed with cold. But they dared 
not stop, having sixteen more miles to make before 
reaching wood and water. 

Relief on the Way. That day a gleam of comfort 
came. While they were halting for noon a light wag- 
on drove into camp, with two young men from Salt 
Lake City, who informed them that a train of sup- 
plies was on the way. Angels from the courts of glory 
could not have been more welcome. Says the Chislett 
narrative : "They lost no time after encouraging us 
all they could to press forward, but sped on farther 
east to convey their glad news to Edward Martin and 
the fifth hand-cart company, who had left Florence 
about two weeks after us, and who, it was feared, were 



A YEAR OF CALAMITIES. 91 

even worse off than we were. As they went from cur 
view many a hearty 'God bless you' followed them." 

Willie's Company Rescued. The first of the relief 
parties met the same storm that spent its fury on the 
emigrants, and not knowing of their utter destitution, 
they encamped to await fine weather. Captain Willie 
went out to meet them, and as soon as he had ex- 
plained the situation they at once hitched up their 
teams and made all haste to the rescue. 

The scene of rejoicing that attended the arrival, just 
at sunset, of four covered wagons containing supplies 
for the half-starved, half-frozen emigrants, is thus de- 
scribed : ''The news ran through the camp like wild- 
fire, and all who were able to leave their beds turned 
out en masse to see them." "Shouts of joy rent the 
air; strong men wept till tears ran freely down their 
furrowed and sun-burnt cheeks; and little children 
partook of the joy, which some of them hardly under- 
stood, and fairly danced around with gladness. Re- 
straint was set aside in the general rejoicing." When 
the rescuers entered the camp the women fell upon 
them and deluged them with kisses. The brave fel- 
lows were so completely overcome that for some mo- 
ments they could utter no word, but in choking silence 
repressed the emotions that mastered them. "Soon, 
however, feeling was somewhat abated, and such a 
shaking of hands, such words of welcome, and such 
invocations of God's blessing have seldom been wit- 
nessed." 

Martin's Ravine. Martin's camp was found late in 
October, in a ravine between the Platte and the 
Sweetwater. These emigrants had about given up 



92 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

hope, and had settled down to die amid their bleak 
surroundings. Scores of deaths had already occurred, 
and many a grave had been dug and filled in the hard 
frozen ground by the way-side. The ravine became a 
cemetery before the survivors left it. The emigrants 
had waded the cold waters of the Platte only to be 
met by piercing winds that chilled them to the bone, 
and by driving snowstorms in the midst of which they 
set up their tents. Some of the men wer^^ so weak 
they could hardly drive the tent-pegs, after scraping 
away with tin plates or frying pans the snow that lay 
a foot to eighteen inches deep along the frosty ground. 
When relief came, the scene of joy and thanksgiving, 
already described, was repeated. 

Wading the Sweetwater. It was about the middle 
of November when the last of the hand-carts crossed 
the Sweetwater. The river at that point was only 
two feet deep, but the water was intensely cold, with 
three or four inches of ice on the surface. Many of the 
emigrants waded the stream, as did also the rescuers, 
the latter carrying on their backs, women, children, 
and the weak or disabled men. 

A Typical Incident. In the rear of the train a man 
and his wife were pulling a hand-cart. When they ar- 
rived on the bank of the river the man, who was much 
worn down, asked plaintively, ''Must we go across 
there?" On being answered in the afihrmative he ex- 
claimed: "Oh, dear! I can't go through that," and 
burst into tears. His wife, who had the stouter heart 
of the two, said soothingly, ''Don't cry, Jimmie, I'll 
pull the hand-cart for you," and into the icy stream 
she strode. 



A YEAR OF CALAMITIES. 93 

The Journey Ends. West of South Pass the ex- 
treme cold moderated. A babe was born in Martin's 
company while it was passing down Echo canyon. 
One of the relief corps contributed a part of his under- 
linen to clothe the little stranger. She was named 
Echo, in memory of her place of birth. Captain Willie 
reached Salt Lake City on the ninth of November. 
Martin did not arrive until three weeks later. His 
command numbered at starting between five and six 
hundred souls, and about one-fourth of them perished. 
W^illie, out of four or five hundred, lost sixty-seven. 
The event filled Utah with gloom, and carried sadness 
into many a home beyond the sea. Other hand-cart 
companies crossed the plains both ways during suc- 
ceeding years, but never again did one start late in the 
season. 



94 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



8. Utah Under Martial Law. 

1857. 

A Misunderstanding with the Government. Utah 
was not quite seven years old when a serious misun- 
derstanding arose between the people of the Territory 
and the Government of the United States. It resulted 
in what is commonly called "The Echo Canyon War." 
A more proper name for it, from the national point of 
view, is ''The Utah Expedition," referring now to the 
sending of troops to put down an alleged rebellion 
against the Government. The militia resisted the en- 
trance of the troops into Salt Lake Valley, and that 
was the "war" in question. 

The Causes. One of the causes of the misunder- 
standing was an official letter written to the Attorney- 
General of the United States by Judge William W. 
Drummond, charging that the Supreme Court records 
at Salt Lake City had been destroyed, with the direct 
knowledge and approval of Governor Young; that 
Federal officers had been grossly insulted for ques- 
tioning the treasonable act, and that a condition of af- 
fairs existed here calling for a change of Governors 
and for military aid to enable the new executive to 
perform the duties of his office. 

These were grave charges, but even worse accusal- 



UTAH UNDER MARTIAL LAW. 95 

tions were made. Judge Drunimond intimated that 
the murder of Captain Gunnison, the death of Judge 
Shaver, and the killing of Secretary Babbitt, had all 
been done by advice and direction of the leading au- 
thorities at Salt Lake City; and he asserted that all 
v^ho opposed those leaders in any manner v^ere har- 
assed, insulted, and even murdered by their orders or 
under their influence. 

The letter was -dated March 30, 1857, and was sent 
from New Orleans, the writer, after leaving Utah, 
having reached that city by way of California and the 
Isthmus of Panama. The communication carried with 
it the resignation of its author as an Associate Justice 
of this Territory. 

The truth of the charges was denied, and the maker 
of them was accused of acting from motives of re- 
venge. Those assailed by Judge Drummond main- 
tained that his resignation and departure were owing 
to an exposure of certain immoral acts which had 
caused all Utah to ring with his shame. As soon as the 
charges were published, and the news could reach Salt 
Lake City, Curtis E. Bolton, Deputy Clerk of the 
United States Supreme Court of Utah, wrote to the 
Attorney-General over his official signature and seal, 
testifying that the records said to have been destroyed 
were safe in his keeping, and he offered to refute, by 
records, dates and facts, all that Judge Drummond 
had asserted. 

It was too late. The charges had been accept- 
ed as true. Before the Bolton letter could reach Wash- 
ington a new set of Federal officers had been appoint- 



96 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

ed for Utah, and an army ordered to the Territory to 
assist them in maintaining the authority of the Fed- 
eral Government. 

Drummond Not Alone. The Administration at 
Washington had not acted solely upon the sensational 
story told by Judge Drummond. In October, 1856, 
W. M. F. Magraw, at Independence, Missouri, had 
written to the President of the United States, James 
Buchanan, representing that there was ''left no ves- 
tige of law and order" in Utah;* and Associate Justice 
George P. Stiles, who had had a disagreement with a 
number of local attorneys, whom he accused of threat- 
ening his court, had gone to Washington early in 1857 
and made an aflfidavit that gave color to some of 
Drummond's charges. t The Government also had 
in its archives a report made by Judge Brocchus and 
his colleagues in 1851, stating that they had been com- 
pelled to leave Utah on account of "the lawless acts 
and seditious tendencies" of a majority of the resi- 
dents.! 



*Mr. Magraw was an ex-mail contractor who, with his partner, J. 
M. Hockaday, had been conducting a mail service between Independ- 
ence and Salt Lake City. When their contract expired a new one had 
been let by the Government to Mr. Hiram Kimball, of Salt Lake City, 
he having underbid all competitors, including the former contractors. 
The Kimball contract had been made the basis of the Brigham Young 
Express Carrying Company, which proposed to transport the mails, 
with passengers, between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. 

tjudge Stiles, as well as Judge Drummond, represented that the 
Utah court records had been destroyed. H. H. Bancroft (History 
of Utah, page 489) states that they had been removed, and a bonfire 
made of some books and loose papers found in the Judge's ofifice, a 
circumstance that caused Judge Stiles to suppose that the records 
had been burned. 

$Governor Young's answer to this and similar accusations was 
embodied in a letter written by him to President Fillmore in Sep- 



UTAH UNDER MARTIAL LAW, 



97 



The Utah Expedition. 

The Army for Utah — 
twenty-five hundred 
choice troops, splendidly 
officered and equipped — 
set out from Fort Leav- 
enworth for Salt Lake 
City in the summer of 
1857. Their commander 
was General Albert Sid- 
ney Johnston, a brave 
and brilliant soldier,who 
was spoken of as a very 
probable successor to 
the aged General Win- 
field Scott, Commander- 
in-Chief of the United 
States Army. The van- 
guard, consisting" of most 
of the infantry, was under the immediate command of 
Colonel E. B. Alexander; and the cavalry, under 
Colonel Philip St. George Cooke. During the Mexi- 
can War, Cooke had commanded the Battalion, many 
of whose members were now citizens of Utah. Two 
batteries of artillery, with several large supply trains, 
and herds of beef cattle for the army, completed the 
equipment of the expedition, which was destined to 




Alfred Gumming, 

Second Governor of the Territory 

of Utah, from 1858 to 1861. 



tember of that year. He admitted that Government officers had been 
criticised in Utah, but denied that the people here were unfriendly 
to the Government. No people, he declared, were more loyal. 



98 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

cost the Government between fifteen and twenty 
million dollars. Along with Colonel Cooke, wdio 
brought up the rear, marching several weeks behind 
the main body, wxnt Governor Alfred Gumming and 
other lately appointed Federal officers.* 

The Territory Receives the Tidings. The news of 
the coming of Johnston's army reached Salt Lake City 
on the evening of the twenty-tlurd of July, and was 
received by Governor Young and his associates about 
noonday of the twenty-fourth. They had gone, with 
many of the inhal)itants of the city and surrounding 
settlements, into the mountains, to celebrate Pioneer 
Day on the banks of Silver Lake, at the head of Big 
Cottonwood Canyon. Having hoisted the Stars and 
Stripes, they were in the midst of the festivities of the 
occasion when the tidings fell upon their ears. 

They were soon convinced that the information Avas 
reliable. Their own special messengers had brought 
it, hurrying over plains and mountains from the fron- 
tier for that purpose. The mails for Utah had been re- 
fused by the postmaster at Lidependence, and he had 
informed the carriers that he was acting under in- 
structions from Washington. Details were given at the 
office of a Government contractor in Kansas City who 
had helped to fit out the expedition. The man who 



'^Governor Cnmming was a native of Georgia, but had served 
officially among the Indians on the Upper Missouri. He was appoint- 
ed Governor of Utah, July 11, 1857. 



UTAH UNDER MARTIAL LAW 



99 



brought the news to Utah was Mayor A. O. Smoot, of 
Salt Lake City. 

Extreme Views. It was an extreme view — that tak- 
en by the authorities and the people of the Territory 
respecting the purpose of the Government in sending 




Silver Lake. 



the troops ; but no more extreme than the view taken 
by the Government relative to a rebellion in Utah. 
The avowed object of the National Authorities was to 
give the new Governor and his feKow officers a mili- 
tary arm to protect and assist them in the perform- 
ance of their duties. Those officers, with the troops, 
were to restore order, not to create chaos ; to pre- 
serve peace and maintain the supremacy of the law, 



100 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

not to make war upon the people nor impose upon 
tliem in any manner. But such was the tension of 
those trying times, that the citizens could not be con- 
vinced that the expedition meditated anything l)ut 
evil. In their excited state of mind, dwelling upon 
painful and bitter memories, it looked to them like 
a movement for their destruction, or at least ex- 
pulsion from their hard-earned homes. 

They resolved that such an event should not be. 
They determined to oppose the advance of the troops, 
and if possible prevent them from entering Salt Eake 
Valley. But while holding back the arm, lifted as they 
believed to strike, it was their further purpose to ac- 
quaint the Government with the true situation in 
Utah, hoping that a peaceful and friendly adjustment 
of differences would follow. If this hope failed, they 
woukl lay waste their farms and fields, set fire to their 
towns and villages, and retire into the mountains or 
into the southern wilderness. 

i Preparing for the Campaign. The plan proposed 
was carried out almost to the letter. On .the fif- 
teenth of September Governor Young proclaimed 
Utah under martial law. He forbade all armed forces 
to enter the Territory, and directed the militia to hold 
itsc'f in instant readiness to repel any attempt at in 
vasion. Citizens traveling or sojourning in other lands 
were invited to return and rally for the common de- 
fense. Settlements formed by Utah people beyond 
the limits of the Territory were broken up, the 
people moving back to their former homes. 

Since 1852 Utah had been divided into military dis- 
tricts, most of them corresponding to the counties of 



UTAH UNDER MARTIAL LAW 



101 



the Territory. Soon after the news reached Gover 
nor Young that an army had been ordered to Salt 

Lake City, General Dan- 
iel H. AVells, who was 
still in command of the 
militia, issued instruc- 
tions to the several dis- 
trict commanders, re- 
quiring them and the 
forces under them to 
make all needful prepar- 
ations for a winter cam- 
paign. The ''Legion" 
then numbered a litt'e 
over six thousand men. 
Governor Young and 
Captain Van Vliet. The 
first nerson connected 
with tlie Expedition to 
enter Utah, was Captain 
Van Vliet, of the Com- 
missary Department. He reached Salt Lake City on 
the eighth of September, one week before martial law 
was proclaimed. His object in coming was to ascertain 
whether forage and fuel could be purchased for the 
troops while quartered here. Li his official report 
the Captain says : "On the evening of the day of my 
arrival, Governor Young, with many of the leading 
men of the city, called upon me at my quarters. The 
Governor received me most cordially and treated me 
during my stay, which continued some six days, with 




General Daniel H. Wells. 



102 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

the greatest hospitality and kindness. In this niter- 
view he made known to me his views with regard to 
the approach of the United States troops, in plain and 
nnmistakable langnage." ''The Governor informed 
me that there was an abundance of everything I re- 
quired for the troops, such as lumber, forage, etc., but 
that none would be so'd to us. In the course of my 
conversations with the Governor and the influential 
men of the Territory, I told them plainly and frankly 
what I conceived would be the result of their present 
course; * * ^^ they might prevent the small mil- 
itary force now approaching Utah from getting 
through the narrow defiles and rugged passes of the 
mountains this year, but that next season the United 
States Government would send troops sufficient to 
overcome all opposition. The answer to this was in- 
variably the same: 'We are aware that such will be 
the case, but when those troops arrive, they will find 
Utah a desert. Every house will be burned to the 
ground, every tree cut down, and every field laid 
waste.' " 'T attended their services on Sunday, and 
in the course of a sermon delivered by Elder Taylor 
he desired all present who would apply the torch 
to their buildings, cut down their trees, and lay waste 
their fields, to hold up their hands. Every hand, in 
an audience numbering over four thousand persons, 
was raised at the same moment." 

Captain Van Vliet was convinced that the people 
here had been misrepresented, and he expressed the 
belief that the Government would yet send an investi- 
gating committee to Utah. Governor Young replied: 
"I believe God sent you here, and that good will 



UTAH UNDER MARTIAL LAW. 103 

grow out of it. I was giad Avhen I heard you were 
comiug.* If we can keep the peace for this winter, I 
feel sure that something wih occur to save the shed- 
ding of blood. "t 

The Mountain Meadows Massacre. At this very 
time w^as perpetrated, in a far-away corner of the 
Territory, that horrible deed, the Mountain Meadows 
Massacre, the most deplorable event in the history 
of Utah. It occurred on the eleventh of September, 
while Captain Van Vliet was still at Salt Lake City; 
Init the news did not reach this ])oint until nearly 
three weeks later, and even then the awful tale was 
not fully told. It was not a day of raih'oads and tele- 
graphs, and the scene of the massacre was three hun- 
dred miles from the Territorial capital, in an Indian 
country, beyond the outskirts of civi'ization. 

According to the facts now^ known, a company of 
emigrants from the State of Arkansas was passing 
:hrough Utah in the summer and autumn of 1857. 
7diey were traveling by what w^as known as 'The 
Southern Route," which led from Salt Lake City' 
tlirough Fillmore, Beaver, Parowan and Cedar City. 
There, turning southwest, it crossed the desert to 
Southern California.! The travelers had passed the 
last Utah settlement, and were encamped at Moun- 
tain Meadows, thirty or forty miles beyond, when 
tliey were set upon by a large band of Indians led by 



*Captaiii Van Vliet, after leaving Utah, went to Washington and 
used his influence in favor of the Territory. 

fShed no blood" was a standing order to the Utah Militia dur- 
ing the period of the Echo Canyon War. 

JMuch of that earl}^ trail is now covered l,y the track of the San 
Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. 



104 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

John D. Lee, and slaughtered without mercy. Lee was 
a farmer among the red men, and had great influence 
over them. Other white men also took part in the 
killing. The slain numbered one hundred and twenty. 
Seventeen small children were spared, and were after- 
wards returned to Arkansas. 

Two weeks and four days later, Lee reported the 
massacre to Governor Young, in person. The Gov- 
ernor was horrified, and wept at the recital. 
Lee laid the blame entirely upon the Lidians, declar- 
ing that no white men were engaged in the affair; 
and for a long time it was believed that the savages 
alone were responsible. Gradually, however, the 
truth leaked out, and the chief criminal was brought 
to justice and paid the penalty of his crime.* 



*Lee was tried in the District Court at Beaver. One of his con- 
federates — Philip Klingensmith — turned states evidence and testi- 
fied against himself and his former associate. Klingensmith was 
released, but Lee was sentenced to be shot, and was executed at 
Mountain Meadows, March 23, 1877. Others implicated in the mas- 
sacre were fugitives from justice for many years, and finally died in 
exile. 



THE ECHO CANYON WAR. 105 



9. The Echo Canyon War. 

1857—1858. 

Government Troops and Territorial Militia. The 

vanguard of Johnston's army entered Utah just after 
the proclamation was issued placing the Territory 
under martial law. The troops — Colonel Alexander's 
infantry — proceeded to Ham's Fork of Green River 
and there established Camp Winfield, twenty miles 
northeast of Fort Bridger. 

About the same time General Wells with his staff 
left Salt Lake City for Echo Canyon, where he made 
his headquarters. His entire force then num- 
bered twelve hundred and fifty men, but twice that 
number took the field before the campaign was over. 
Echo Canyon, the main route through the mountains, 
commanded all the passes and defiles leading directh^ 
to Salt Lake Valley. The General's camp was at a 
place called the Narrows. There the rugged road 
wound between steep, overhanging clifTs, hundreds of 
feet in height, and at that point, it was thought, a 
small force might hold in check a large army. 

The General directed Colonel N. V. Jones to have 
his men dig trenches and make dams across the can- 
yon, that it might be flooded; and to pile rocks and 
boulders upon the heights, for use against the iroops 
if they attempted to force a passage. He then went 
on with an escort to Fort Brido'er, where he mei Col- 



106 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

onel Ro1:)ert T. Burton, who, with a small body of cav- 
ah-y, had been watching the movements of the ap- 
proaching expedition. 

General Wells and Colonel Alexander. From Fort 
Bridger, a copy of Governor Young's proclamation, 
with a letter from General Wells, w^as sent to Colonel 
Alexander, who was told that the militia were in the 
field to help carry out the instructions of the Gover- 
nor. The General directed the Colonel to retire from 
the Territory, or else disarm his force, adding that if 
the troops fell short of provisions they would be fur- 
nished on application. 

The commander at Camp Winfield paid no atten- 
tion to this demand, more than to reply that he would 
submit the communication to General Johnston as 
soon as he arrived. 'Tn the meantime," he added, 'T 
liave only to say that these troops are here by order 
of the President of the United States, and their fu- 
ture movements will depend entirely upon the orders 
issued by competent military authority." 

Lot Smith Burns the Government Trains. Upon 
the return of his messenger with Colonel Alexander's 
reply. General Wells ordered Major Lot Smith to 
turn back or burn the supply trains that were on the 
way to Camp Winfield. At the head of forty-three 
mounted men Smith at once set out toward Green 
River. It was now the tliird of October. After rid- 
ing nearly all night, he came upon an ox train headed 
westward. Th.e captain was told that he must turn 
his wagons about and go the other way. He made a 
strong protest, and then started east, but was met 
next day by a party of Federal troops, who took out 



107 



liis lading-, leaving the wagons and teams standini 
Major Smith burned the 
next trains that he en- 
countered — two under a 
man named Dawson, and 
one commanded by a 
Captain Simpson. The 
latter was out hunting- 
cattle when the cavalry 
rode up and disarmed 
his teamsters. Simpson 
was a brave man, and 
would have fought had 
he not been at a disad- 
vantage. He reluctant'y 
gave up his pisto's and 
was allowed to keep two 




of his waggons, loaded 



Lot Smith. 



with provisions. The 

other wagons were set on fire and consumed. 

Major Taylor's Experience. About the time that 
Lot Smith started upon his errand, one similar, 
though not so successful, was undertaken by Major 
Joseph Taylor. He was sent with forty or fifty men 
to the Oregon road, near the bend of Bear River, to 
co-operate with Colonel Burton and further impede 
the progress of Government troops and trains.* After 



*'*Biirn the whole eoiintry Ijefore them and on their flanks ; keep 
them from sleeping, l)y night surprises ; blockade the roads by fell- 
ing trees and destroying river fords ; take no life, but destroy their 
trains, and stampede and drive away their animals, at every oppor- 
tunity." These were the instructions that Taylor set out to execute. 



108 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

passing Fort Bridger the Major separated from his 
command and returned to that post upon important 
business. Coming unexpectedly upon a body of 
United States troops — for the infantry were again on 
the march — he and his adjutant,' William Stowell, 
were surrounded and captured. Taylor escaped and 
rejoined his comrades, but Stowell remained a pris- 
oner until peace was proclaimed. 

More Guerilla Tactics. Other commands were also 
scouring the country along the route of the advancing 
column, annoying the men every hour by threatened 
or actual raids. If they did not succeed in dispiriting the 
troops, it was because the American soldier is hard 
to discourage. One cause of discomfiture was 
the absence of the army cavalry, which was still far 
in the rear. The Utah rangers were well mounted, 
and had their own way with the infantry. 

An Attempted Detour. Finding the direct route to 
Salt Lake Valley blocked against him, Colonel Alex- 
ander attempted a detour northward toward Soda 
Springs ; but the nimble rangers still hung upon his 
flanks, keeping up their tantalizing Cossack 
warfare. At length the Colonel called a halt and 
convened a council of his o'licers. Some were in fa- 
vor of forcing their way through Echo Canyon, re- 
gardless of consequences; but cooler counsels pre- 
vailed. To proceed farther \\as deemed imprudent, 
and matters came to a standstill. 

Colonel Alexander and Governor Young. Colonel 
Alexander now wrote to Governor Young, complain- 



THE ECHO CANYON WAR. 



109 



ing of the hostile reception given the United 
States troops on the threshold of the Territory, and 
of the unfair methods by which his advance v^as 
being opposed. He also intimated that the Governor 
had been guilty of tampering with the mails, *'inter- 
cepting public and private letters." The Governor an- 
swered, denying that he had intercepted any letters, 
and reminding the Colonel that the Government it- 
self was responsible for the stopping of the mails. He 
justified the mode of warfare by which the citizens 
were defending their homes, and commanded the 
troops to leave the Territory, ofTering to assist them 
to reach Fort Hall or to retire within reach of sup- 
plies from the East. In conclusion the Governor in- 
vited the Colonel and his officers to visit Salt Lake 
City, without troops, promising them a safe escort 
to and from the town, with courteous treatment dur- 
ing their stay. 

General Johnston Arrives. 
It was not until the first week 
in November that General 
Johnston joined Colonel 
Alexander on Black's Fork. 
Johnston was a great com- 
mander and soon infused 
new life and energy into the 
baffled and half dispirited 
troops. Spurning the idea of 
departing a single point from 
the direct route through the 
mountains, he at once or- 
dered a forward movement to Fort Bridger 




General A. S. Johnston. 



no THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Forward to Fort Bridger. Hie distance was oiily 
thirty-five miles, but the country crossed was a frozen 
desert, swept by the bitter blasts of Noveml^er. Snow, 
sleet and hail fell almost continuously, and the ther- 
mometer showed at times sixteen degrees be'ow 
zero. Some of the troops were severely frost-bitten, 
and many of the cattle perished. Five hundred head 
w^ere driven off the night before the march began. 
Fifteen days were consumed in reaching the point 
where until recentl}^ had stood Fort Bridger. But 
the fort w^as now^ no more, having been burned, w^ith 
Fort Supply, by the Utah militia, who were slowly 
retiring before Johnston's advance and concentrating 
behind the rocky ramparts of Echo Canyon. 

Winter Quarters. On the nineteenth of Novembei 
General Johnston was joined by Colonel Cooke and 
his dragoons. They had had a terrible experience in 
the storms at Devil's Gate and South Pass.* The 
weather continued so severe that the project of push- 
ing through the mountains that season was aban- 
doned. The ruins of Fort Bridger were used for the 
storage of supplies and the army went into winter 
quarters on Black's Fork. There arose Camp Scott, 
named, as Camp A\'infield had been, after the nation's 
General-in-Chief. 

Hostilities Suspended. As soon as it was learned 
that General Johnston did not intend to carry on a 
winter campaign, all further interference with the 



*Coloncl Cooke l)rf)nght one huiKh'ed and forty-four horses, 
and reported having lost one hundred and thirty-four. "It has been 
of starvation," he said. "The earth has a no more lifeless, treeless, 
grassless desert." One night the thermometer marked twenty-five 
degrees lielow zero. A ])ottle of shcrr\- wine froze in a trunk. 



THE ECHO CANYON W AR. Ill 

troops by the militia was forbidden. Some of the Fed- 
eral so'diers, captured by Colonel Thomas Callister's 
command, were released by order of Governor Young. 
Hearing that the troops at Camp Scott were suffer- 
ing for want of sa't, the Governor sent a wagon load 
of the article to the post commander, with his com- 
pliments. Johnston refused the gift, but the salt was 
left outside the camp and was used by the common 
so'diers. The officers purchased a supply from the 
Indians at the rate of live dollars a pound. Later, 
the Government cattle, run off by the rangers, were 
returned. 

About the first of December the militia began to 
return to their homes. A patrol of fifty men, under 
Captain John R. A\'inder, was left to guard Echo Can- 
yon and its approaches. They kept watch upon the 
Government troops, and reported every movement to 
headquarters at Salt Lake City. 

The Feeling in the East. Meantime, in the East 
and especially at AA'ashington, much anxiety was felt 
and some excitement reigned. The Government was 
indignant over the disasters that had befallen the ex- 
pedition, and all over the land much hot denunciation 
was poured upon Utah and her people. But all the 
b'ame did not come this way. Leading newspapers 
on both sides of the Atlantic criticized the course of 
the Administration. During the winter memorials 
from the Legislature and the citizens, setting forth 
the situation here, were signed and forw^arded to the 
national capital. Congress, after much discussion, 
granted a request from the President for more troops 
and monev to carrv on the "war." Three thousand 



112 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



men made ready to cross the Rocky Mountains and 
reinforce the army on Black's Fork. 

Colonel Kane the Mediator. Just at that time Col- 
onel Thomas L. Kane, a staunch friend to Utah, went 

to Washington from his 
home in Philadelphia, 
and offered his services 
to President Buchanan 
as a mediator between 
the General Government 
and the authorities and 
people of the troubled 
Territory. Governor 
Young had previously 
communicated with Col- 
onel Kane, explaining 
his motives in declaring 
martial law and oppos- 
ing the advance of the 
troops. It had been done, 
he said, to bring about 
an investigation, and he 
requested the Colonel to 
convey this information to the President. 

The offer of mediation was accepted, and the Pres- 
ident's appreciation found words in the following pas- 
sage of his next message to Congress: 'T cannot re- 
frain from mentioning the valuable services of Colonel 
Thomas L. Kane, who, from motives of pure benev- 
olence and without any official character or pecuniary 
compensation, visited Utah during the last inclement 




Colonel Thomas L. Kane. 



THE ECHO CANYON WAR. 113 

winter for the purpose of contributing to the pacifica- 
tion of the Territory." 

A Delicate Mission. Colonel Kane was in feeble 
health, and his diplomatic mission, as a private en- 
voy of the President, was both delicate and difficult. 
It devolved upon him, as a representative of the Gov- 
ernment, to uphold its dignity and authority, and at 
the same time concede to a people who felt sorely ag- 
grieved all that was just and right. Sailing from New 
York (January, 1858), he crossed the Isthmus, landed 
on the California coast, and proceeded to Utah, ar- 
riving at Salt Lake City on the twenty-fifth of Feb- 
ruary. 

Governor Young, who had known Colonel Kane on 
the Iowa frontier, gladly welcomed him even before 
the errand was known. Having explained his mis- 
sion, and heard what Governor Young and his friends 
had to say, the Colonel set out for Black's Fork, to 
make known to Governor Gumming the result of his 
interview with the leading men of the Territory. They 
were w^illing to receive the new civil officers and give 
them a hearty welcome, if they would come to the 
city without the army. 

Colonel Kane bore this message to Camp Scott, dis- 
tant one hundred and thirteen miles, with deep snow 
all the way. Governor Gumming greeted him cor- 
dially, and agreed to go with him, without troops, to 
Salt Lake City. General Johnston vainly endeavored 
to dissuade the Governor from his purpose. 

Governor Gumming Goes to the Capital. Governor 
Cumming set out for the Utah capital on the fifth of 
April. Outside the Federal lines he was met by General 



1 14 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

William H. Kimball with a body of citizen cavalry, 
and escorted through Echo and Weber canyons. 
Near the Warm Springs Mayor Smoot and oiher 
municipal officers received him and conducted him to 
lodgings previously provided. Ex-Governor Young 
called upon him, and in several interviews offered 
him ''every facility that he might require for the ef- 
ficient performance of his administrative duties." In 
a letter to General Johnston, written ten days after 
leaving Camp Scott, the new Executive said: 'T have 
been everywhere recognized as Governor of Utah ; 
and so far from having encountered insults or indig- 
nities, I am gratified in being able to state to you that 
in passing through the settlements I have been uni- 
versally greeted with such respectful attentions as are 
due to the representative authority of the United 
States in the Territory." 

Court Records Found Intact. On the second of 
May Governor Gumming sent a report to the Secre- 
tary of State, Lewis M. Cass, informing him that he 
had examined the records of the Supreme Court and 
the District Courts in Utah, and had found them "per- 
fect and unimpaired." He also reported that the Leg- 
islative records and other books belonging to the Sec- 
retary of State were in perfect preservation, and that 
the Territorial Library had been kept in excellent 
condition. 

The President Congratulates Congress. President 
Buchanan, on receiving from Secretary Cass the re- 
port of Governor Gumming, addressed a communi- 
cation to Congress, congratulating the Senators and 
Representatives upon the improved state of affairs 



THE ECHO CANYON WAR. 



115 



in Utah. He expressed the opinion that there would 
be no need of any further appropriations to quell dis- 
turbances in this Territory. 

''The Move." The trouble, 
however, was not yet over, as 
the Governor's report went on 
to show. 'T regret the neces- 
sity," said he, "which com- 
pels me to mingle with my 
congratulations the an- 
nouncement of a fact that will 
occasion great concern. The 
people, inc'uding the inhabi- 
tants of this city, are moving 
from every settlement in the 
northern part of the Terri- 
tory. The roads are every- 
where filled with wagons 

loaded with provisions and household furniture, the 
women and children often without shoes and hats, 
driving their Hocks they know not wdiere." 

It was even so. The people of Utah, finding that 
the Government was bent upon quartering its troops 
in the Territory, and having no faith in the assurance 
that their rights would be respected by the military, 
had resolved upon another exodus. Thirt}) 
thousand men, women, and children had abandoned 
their homes and were moving southward, leaving be- 
hind them only a sufficient number of men to set fire 
to houses, orchards and farms, if a door latch should 
be lifted or a gate swung open by hostile hand. 

Peace and Pardon. A Peace Commission, sent by 




President James Buchanan. 



116 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

President Buchanan, now came to confer with the peo- 
ple of Utah. A full and free pardon w^as offered to all 
who would manifest their loyalty to the Government. 
The Commissioners were Governor L. W. Powell, of 
Kentucky, and Major Ben McCulloch, of Texas. They 
met with Brigham Young and other leaders on 
the eleventh and twelfth of June at the Council House 
in Salt Lake City. While refusing to acknowledge 
that they had ever been anything but loyal to the 
Government, the leadins" citizens, for themselves and 
for the people, accepted pardon for such overt acts 
as the burning of the supply trains and the driving off 
of the army cattle. They agreed not to oppose Gen- 
eral Johnston in marching through the capital, 
provided he would not quarter his troops within forty 
miles of the town. 

Johnston's Army Passes Through Salt Lake City. 

On the twenty-sixth of June General Johnston, at the 
head of his troops, descended Emigration Canyon 
and entered Salt Lake Valley. Passing through the 
all but deserted city, the army camped temporarily on 
Jordan River. Some of the officers were deeply 
moved by what they beheld as they rode through 
the silent streets. Colonel Cooke, it is said, bared his 
head in honor of the brave men wdiom he had for- 
merly led in their country's cause against Mexico. 
The troops preserved excellent order, and true to 
the pledge given by their commander, molested 
neither person nor property. They remained upon 
the Jordan three days, and then marched to Cedar 
Valley, thirty-six miles southward, where they 



THE ECHO CANYON WAR. 117 

founded Camp Flovd, named after the Secretary of 
War. 

The People Return to their Homes. Most of the 
citizens who had gone south in "The Move," were in 
Utah County, but some had reached FiUmore and 
points beyond. Early in July they began to return 
northward, and the deserted towns and villages were 
again inhabited. Governor Cumm'ing proclaimed 
peace, based upon the acceptance of the President's 
pardon, and so ended the Echo Canyon W^ar. 



18 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



10. The Camp Floyd Period. 

1858—1861. 

How Johnston's Army Affected Utah. Johnston's 
army proved both a benefit and a detriment to Utah. 
The fonnding of Camp Floyd furnished employment 
to a large number of masons, carpenters, and build- 
ers, who erected the Government barracks in Cedar 
Valley; and it provided a near and ready market for 
the products of farm, ranch and dairy. The op- 
portunity to profit by the presence of the troops was 
not lost sight of by enterprising settlers. Merchants 
especially were awake to the opportunity and took 
advantage of the commercial chance afforded. 

Owing to the ''war," the suspension of travel over 
the plains, and the consequent breaking up of local 
business houses, the people had been deprived of 
many comforts, which were now obtainable. In ex- 
change for fiour, grain, beef, butter, eggs, poultry, 
and dried fruits, they received cash, clothing, gro- 
ceries, and other necessaries. The community was 
greatly benefited in a material way. 

On the other hand various . evils were introduced 
— traceable mainly to the camp followers who came 
in the wake of the troops. Utah had bad men of her 
own, 1)ut now they were re-inforced and multiplied. 
Rough characters flocked in from all parts. Now 
and then a peaceable citizen fell a victim to the knife 



THE CAMP FLOYD PERIOD. 119 

or bullet of the drunken desperado or midnight as- 
sassin ; but as a rule it was the desperadoes who slew 
each other. 

Civilians and Soldiers. There was some friction 
between civilians and soldiers, and more or less con- 
flict betwen civil and military authority, but it 
gradually died away and eventually pleasant relations 
existed where distrust and ill-will had reigned. 
Among the fatalities of the period was the shooting 
of Sergeant Ralph Pike, by a young man whom Pike 
had assaulted. The assault occurred in Rush Valley, 
west of Camp Floyd, in March, 1859; and the shooting 
took place at Salt Lake City in the following August. 
The Sergeant, with a squad of soldiers from the post, 
had ordered the young man to take his cattle off some 
land where the soldiers wished to mow their next 
winter's hay. The latter replied that it was too dark 
to gather the cattle and that he would not move them 
till morning. Thereupon the Sergeant clubbed his 
musket and struck the youth a fearful blow over the 
head, inflicting an almost fatal wound. Recovering af- 
ter many weeks, but never entirely regaining himself 
physically or mentally, the victim of the assault met 
and slew his assailant, who had come from Camp 
Floyd to answer for his offense in the District Court.* 

Civil Versus Military Authority. The only serious 
clash between the civil and the military powers had 
Governor Cumming and the citizens on one hand, and 
the Federal Judges, with General Johnston and the 
troops, on the other. It occurred in the spring of 1859. 



*The slayer escaped at the time, but many years later surrendered 
for trial and was acquitted. 



120 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

The new Chief Justice, I). R. Eckels, had taken up 
his residence at Camp Floyd, and Associate Justice 
Charles E. Sinclair had opened court at Salt Lake 
City, in the autumn of 1858. The other Associate 
Justice, John Cradlebaugh, did not arrive in Utah un- 
til November of that year, and did not begin judicial 
proceedings until the following March. The seat of 
his district was Fillmore, but he changed it to Provo, 
and summoned to his assistance several companies of 
soldiers, which were furnished by the commander of 
the military post. Judge Cradlebaugh's purpose 
was to investigate, among other crimes, the Moun- 
tain Meadows massacre, and expecting opposi- 
tion, he deemed the presence of the troops neces- 
sary for his protection. Some of them surrounded 
the court house and took possession of the building — 
the Provo Seminary — in which the court was held. 
The Mayor and citizens protested against this action, 
and as the Judge paid no heed to their protest, they 
and the people at large appealed to Governor Gum- 
ming, who recjuested General Johnston to remove the 
troops. The commander refused to honor the re- 
quest, whereupon the Governor issued a proclamation 
(March 27, 1859) setting forth the facts and protest- 
ing against the military movement. He stated 
that it had a tendency to terrify the inhabitants and 
disturb the peace of the Territory, also to subvert the 
ends of justice by intimidating witnesses and jurors. 
The Attorney General's Decision. About this time 
Judge Cradle1)augh and Judge Sinclair addressed a 
communication to the United States Attorney Gen- 
eral — T- S. Black — laving the whole matter before him 



THE CAMP FLOYD PERIOD. 



121 



and asking for instructions. That high official an- 
swered in behalf of the Administration (May, 1859). 
He censured the Judges and General Johnston, and 
approved the course taken by the Governor.* 

Meantime Judge Cradlebaugh had adjourned his 
court, and the troops at Provo had been withdrawn. 
An effort was made from Camp Floyd to have Gover- 
nor Gumming removed, but President Buchanan con- 
tinued him in office. 

Horace Greeley in Utah. An interesting event in the 
summer of 1859 was th- 
visit of Horace Greeley, 
the founder and editor of 
the New York Tribune. 
Everyone has heard of Mr. 
Greeley's famous advice, 
"Go West, young man, and 
grow up with the country." 
By stage-coach from the 
frontier, the great journal- 
ist arrived at the Utah cap- 
ital on the evening of the 
tenth of July. He remained 
a week or more, interviewing leading men and study- 
ing local conditions. On the night of the sixteenth 
a reception and banquet were given in his honor by 
the Deseret Typographical and Press Association. 

Early Newspapers. Utah now had two newspapers. 




Horace Greeley 



*Judge Sinclair had urged the Grand Jury of his court to indict 
some of the leading citizens for treason, but the United States At- 
torney, Alexander Wilson, had refused to present bills for such in- 
dictments, holding that the Echo Canyon incident was closed. 



22 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



"The Deseret News," the pioneer journal, has been 
mentioned. The second paper was *'The Valley Tan," 
started at Camp Floyd in the autumn of 1858, but 
at the time of the Greeley visit published at Salt 
Lake City. Kirk Anderson was the editor. A third 
journal called "The Mountaineer," made its appear- 
ance late in August, 1859. The editors and proprie- 
tors were James Ferguson, Seth M. Blair, and Hosea 
Stout. 

The Overland Stage Line. A mail and passenger 




The Overland Stage Coach. 



THE C/VMP FLOYD PERIOD. 123 

stage line, owned by Air. Ben Holladay, was now 
rnnning between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacra- 
mento, California, with Salt Lake City as a station 
on the route. It had been established soon after the 
founding of Camp Floyd. The California gold fe- 
ver was still raging, and travel to and from the mines 
was incessant and ever on the increase. It was by 
means of Ben Holladay's stage line that Horace Gree- 
ley continued his journey to the western ocean.* Soon 
another line of coaches was running to the Pacific. 
This route was from Salt Lake City through Fillmore, 
Parowan and Cedar Citv, to San Dieso. 

The Pony Express. To shorten the time required 
for bringing news across the great plains, the Ponv 
Express was started in the spring of 1860. Its 
aim — which became an achievement — was to carry 
dispatches and important letters between Missouri and 
California, supplying so far as possible the need of the 
electric telegraph. The rate for letters was one dol- 
lar to five dollars each. Written on the thinnest pa- 
per that could be procured, the messages were car- 
ried in saddle bags or in pouches on the person of the 



*Readers of Mark Twain's "Roughing It" will remember the story 
told of Horace Greeley and Hank Monk, the Carson City stage 
driver. Desirous of reaching a certain point at a certain time, Mr. 
Greeley urged the driver to greater speed ; whereupon Mr. Monk 
whipped up his horses and the editor was bumped and bounced over 
the rocky road until he was well nigh exhausted. By coming in 
violent contact with the ceiling of the coach, Mr. Greeley's hat was 
smashed over his eyes, and at last he begged the driver to go easier. 
Glancing back at him, and giving his horses another swirl of the 
lash, Hank Monk exclaimed : "Keep your seat, Horace, and I'll get 
3^ou there on time." The author of "Roughing It" makes a very 
humorous use of the worn-out anecdote, and then informs the reader 
that the incident never occurred. 



124 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



rider. Relays of saddle horses were kept at the over- 
land mail stations, ready for instant use. One of the 
riders, coming into a station at full gallop, would jump 
from the back of his jaded steed, leave it in care of 
grooms waiting to receive it, and flinging himself 
across a fresh mount, be ofT with almost the swiftness 
of the wind, hugging closely the precious missives 
waited for along the line or at the remote extremity 




The Pony Express. 



of the route. No one rider, of course, could make the 
through trip without sleep. At certain points fresh 
riders as well as fresh horses were supplied. 

The Pony Express — otherwise known as the Pony 
Telegraph — brought Utah into six days' communica- 
tion with the frontier, and within seven days of the 



THE CAMP FLOYD PERIOD 125 

national capital. The first rider from the West 
reached Salt Lake City on the seventh of April ; the 
first from the East, on the evening of the ninth. Two 
had set out on th« night of the third, one from Sac- 
ramento, and the other from St. Joseph. The Pony 
Express did not originate in Utah, but the Territory 
furnished a full share of the riders. James E. Bromley, 
Howard Egan and PL J. Faust were among the prom- 
inent names connected with the enterprise in this re- 
gion.* 

Rumors of War. News of a stirring nature was 
soon brought by the Pony Express. The air was 
filled with rumors of war. Events in the East had 
been hastening to a crisis, and the great conflict that 
was destined to split the nation and shake the earth 
with its thunder, was just about to begin. The direct 
result to Utah was the withdrawal of the Federal 
troops from the Territory.* 



.*The Pony Express made two hundred and fifty miles in twenty- 
four hours, while the mail coach made one hundred or one hundred 
and twenty-five miles. There were eighty riders and four hun- 
dred horses, and eight messengers w^ere kept constantly in the sad- 
dle. One of the most noted of the riders was "Buffalo Bill" (Col- 
onel William F. Cody) who conducted in later years the celebrated 
"Wild West Show." 

tMany believed that Johnston's army would not have been sent 
to Utah but for the plotting of the Secessionist leaders at Wash- 
ington. President Buchanan was not one of them. He denied the 
right of a State to secede. But the Secretary of War, John B. 
Floyd, was a rank Secessionist and became a Confederate general. 
As a member of the President's Cabinet, Floyd did all in his power 
to scatter the armed forces of the United States, in order to make it 
easy for the Southern States to withdraw from the Union and seize 
upon the Government arsenals and public military stores within their 
borders. See "Library of Universal Knowledge," Volume Six, page 
12), for data upon this point. See also James G. Blaine's "Twenty 
Years in Congress." 



126 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Camp Floyd Abandoned. As early as March, 1860, 
General Johnston had left for Washington. Colonel 
Cooke then became the post commander. By his or- 
der (February, 1861) Camp Floyd changed its name 
to Fort Crittenden. Most of the troops had already 
been ordered to Arizona and New Mexico, and in 
July the remainder took up their march for the East. 
Before the post was evacuated, immense stores of 
provisions and army supplies were offered for sale by 
the military authorities and disposed of at an enor- 
mous sacrifice. Goods worth four million dollars were 
sold for one hundred thousand. Far-sighted buyers 
made their fortunes. Great quantities of arms and 
ammunition that could not be transported were de- 
stroyed by direction of the War Department. 

General Johnston did not visit Salt Lake City after 
passing through with his army in 1858. He and Brig- 
ham Young never met. Colonel Cooke, Co'onel Alex- 
ander, Captain Marcy, and Quartermaster Grossman 
accepted an invitation to call upon the Ex-Governor 
prior to their departure. They presented to him the 
flag-staff from which the Stars and Stripes had floated 
over Camp Floyd, and the interesting relic stood for 
many years on the brow of the hill, a little east of 
Eagle Gate, where it continued to hold aloft the 
National Banner.* 



*General Johnston, wearing the gray mstead of the blue, com- 
manding a Confederate in lien of a Union army, met General Grant 
at Shiloh, (April 6, 1^62) and fell at the crisis of that terrible battle 
which, but for his death, might have been won for the South. 



"UTAH HAS NOT SECEDED." 127 

11. "Utah has not Seceded." 

1861—1862. 

Western Utah Becomes Nevada. Just before the 
beginning of the Civil War, Utah was called upon to 
part with that portion of her domain out of which 
Congress created the Territory of Nevada.* Western 
Utah had been occupied for about ten years. Hamp- 
den S. Beatie seems to have been the pioneer of that 
part, building the first house at Genoa while on his 
way to the California gold fields in 1850 or 1851. The 
Reese brothers from Salt Lake City followed Mr. 
Beatie, and within the next few years settlers from 
both east and west began to build along the Carson 
River. 

Most of those who settled there were farmers and 
herdsmen, some were miners and prospectors, and 
others merchants, who did a thriving business with the 
emigrants and gold hunters passing that way. Early in 
the "fifties" it was proposed to annex the Carson re- 
gion to California, but afterwards there was a series 
of movements for the formation of a new Territory. 
The great Comstock silver mine was discovered in 
June, 1859, and in November, 1860, the people of Car- 
son Valley, following the example of the founders of 
Deseret, elected a Governor and a Legislature and ps- 



*An effort had been made to induce Congress to change the name 
Utah to Nevada, and remove the seat of government to Carson 
County, 



128 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



tioned Congress for a Territorial government. Four 
months later the prayer was granted. President Bu- 
chanan, two days before retiring from office (March 
2, 1861) affixed his signature to the Act of Congress 
organizing the new Territory.* 

New Boundaries. The eastern h'mit of Nevada 
was placed at the thirty-ninth meridian from Wash- 
ington. During the same year the Territory of Col- 



OREGON j 




t-i rN 


O 


o 


00 


CO 


•— * 




V A 


D 


O 


^ 












Utah Boundaries, Past and Present. 
orado was created out of portions of Utah, New Mex- 
ico, Kansas, and Nebraska. Our eastern boundary 
was then placed at the thirty-second meridian. t 



*Judge C. C. Goodwin, now of Salt Lake Cit}^ was prominent in 
the early history of Nevada. 

tin 1862 another degree was given to Nevada, and in 1866 still 
another, these also heing taken from Utah. In 1863 Nebraska, and 
in 1868 Wyoming, each was given a piece off the northeastern corner 
of the Territory, and these changes brought Utah to her present 
dimensions. 



"UTAH HAS NOT SECEDED." 129 

During the winter of 1861-1862 the Utah Legislature 
defined anew the boundaries of the Territory. The 
counties then numbered seventeen, namely, Salt Lake, 
Davis, Weber, Box Elder, Cache, Utah, Tooele, Juab, 
Sanpete, Millard, Iron, Beaver, Washington, Morgan, 
Wasatch, Summit, and Green River. 

The Utah "Dixie." In the latter part of 1861 sev- 
eral hundred families from Northern and Central 
Utah settled in Washington County.* St George and 
the towns on the upper Rio Virgen were located at 
that time.f The resources of the southern country 
were rapidly developed. The cotton industry, pre- 
viously established there, received a great impetus 
from the Civil War, the blockading of Southern ports 
by Northern fleets having caused a scarcity of the cot- 
ton fabric throughout the country.! 

President Lincoln's Appointees. Abraham Linco'n 
was now President of the United States. His ap- 
pointees for Utah included John W. Dawson, Gover- 
nor; Frank Fuller, Secretary; and James Duane Doty, 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs. § The Federal 



*George A. Smith, the pioneer of Iron County, led this movement 
to Washington County. St. George was named for him. Later, 
Erastus Snow became the most notable man in Southern Utah. 

tRio Virgen is the Spanish form, and Virgin River the English 
form. Either is correct. 

tCotton had been grown in Davis County as early as 1851, but the 
first cotton cloth was made in "Dixie," about 1856. A cotton colony 
was established in Washington County in the spring of 1858. 

^Originally this office was united with that of Governor, but from 
this time forth it was separate and distinct. 



130 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Judges were John F. Kinney, R. P. Flenniken, and 
H. R. Crosby.* 

The Pacific Telegraph. In the autumn of 1861 the 
Pacific Telegraph Line, which for several months had 
been approaching from both East and West, was com- 
pleted to Salt Lake City.t On the seventeenth of 
October the operator connected with the eastern 
route announced that the line was open. 

The First Messages. The first use of the wire 
was tendered to Ex-Governor Young. His dispatch, 
dated the eighteenth, and sent to J. H. Wade, Presi- 
dent of the Pacific Telegraph Company, at Cleveland, 
Ohio, contained these words : "Utah has not seceded, 
but is firm for the Constitution and laws of our once 
happy country, and is warmly interested in such use- 
ful enterprises as the one so far completed." President 
Wade replied : 'T have the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your message of last evening, which was in 
every way gratifying, not only in the announcement 
of the completion of the Pacific Telegraph to your 
enterprising and prosperous city, but that yours, the 
first message to pass over the line, should express so 
unmistakably the patriotism and Union-loving senti- 
ments of yourself and people." 

In the absence of the Governor, Secretary Fuller 
made early use of the line to salute President Lin- 



*Kinney, re-appointed by President Buchanan in July, 1860, had 
succeeded Eckels as Chief Justice, and was continued in office by 
President Lincoln. Judge Sinclair, like Chief Justice Eckles, had 
disappeared from view. Judge Cradlebaugh was serving Nevada as 
Delegate to Congress. 

tCongress had granted the charter for the Pacific Telegraph to Ed- 
ward Creighton, of Omaha, early in 1861. 



"UTAH HAS NOT SECEDED." 



m 




coin. He said: ''Utah, 
whose citizens strenu- 
ously resist all imputa- 
tions of disloyalty, con- 
gratulates the President 
upon the completion of 
an enterprise which 
spans a continent, unites 
two oceans, and con- 
nects with nerve of iron 
the remote extremities 
of the body politic with 
the great governmental 
heart. May the whole 
system speedily thrill 
with the quickened pul- 
sations of that heart, as 
the parricide hand is 
palsied, treason is pun- 
ished, and the entire sis- 
terhood of States joins hands in glad reunion around 
the national fireside." The President replied : ''The 
completion of the telegraph to Great Salt Lake City 
is auspicious of the stability and union of the Repub- 
lic. The Government reciprocates your congratula- 
tions." 

The arrival of the telegraph was a very important 
event, and one fully appreciated by all classes of cit- 
izens. It superseded the Pony Express and placed 
Utah in daily communication with the Atlantic and the 
Pacific sea-boards. It may therefore be regarded as 
representing" the dawn of a new era. 



John W. Dawson, 

Third Governor of the Territory 

of Utah, 1861. 



132 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Utah Guards the Overland Route. The duty of 
protecting the Telegraph and the Overland Stage 
Line from Indians and other enemies of the Govern- 
ment w^as first placed upon the Utah militia. Through 
Adjutant-General L. Thomas, at Washington, D. C., 
President Lincoln, on the twenty-eighth of April, 
1862, called upon Ex-Governor Young to raise, arm, 
and equip a company of cavalry for that purpose. The 
men were to receive the same pay as that allowed 
LTnited States troops and were to continue in service 
until relieved by a detachment of the regular army. 

The savages at that 
time were very hostile. 
They had destroyed the 
mail stations between 
Fort Bridger and North 
Platte, and were attack- 
ing and robbing coaches 
and killing travelers. 
White men took part in 
these depredations. Col- 
onel Robert T. Burton, 
with thirty picked caval- 
rymen, had been ordered 
by Acting-Governor Ful- 
ler into special service to 
protect the mail route, 
and had been gone from 
Salt Lake City only two 
days when the call came 
from President Lincoln. 
Lot Smith in a New Role. The call was responded 




Colonel Robert T. Burton. 



''UTAH HAS NOT SECEDED." 133 

to with alacrity. Three days after it came, Captain 
Lot Smith at the head of seventy-two mounted men 
took up line of march for Independence Rock, the 
scene of a late Indian disaster. Ben Holladay, the 
proprietor of the stage line, telegraphed from New 
York, thanking Ex-Governor Young for his "prompt 
response to President Lincoln's request." The Lot 
Smith here mentioned was the same that had burned 
the Government trains on Green River. He and his 
comrades now rendered valiant service for "Uncle 
Sam" and won golden opinions from the United 
States army officers who joined them with troops and 
directed their later movements. 

The Morrisites. A. most regrettable event of that 
period was the affair of the Morrisites, a religious sect 
whose leader, Joseph Morris, and several of his fol- 
lowers, were killed as the result of resisting with 
armed force a marshal's posse which had been sent 
to serve and enforce a process of the Third District 
Court. Two of the posse were killed at the same time. 
The tragedy occurred in the summer of 1862. 

The Morrisites, numbering about five hundred, 
all told, inhabited a little settlement called Kington 
Fort, just west from the mouth of Weber Canyon. 
They had imprisoned three of their members for at- 
tempting to leave the fort and take their families and 
belongings with them, and had disregarded a writ of 
habeas corpus issued by Chief Justice Kinney, com- 
manding the Morrisite leaders to bring before him 
the men they held in custody. On the tenth of June 
Judge Kinney, yielding to earnest entreaties from 
relatives of the imprisoned men, issued another writ 



134 THE MAKING OF A STATfi. 

directing the Territorial Marshal to arrest the Mor- 
risite leaders and bring them to Salt Lake City, to be 
dealt with according to law.* The charge against 
them was now two-fold : first, unlawful imprisonment 
of the seceding members ; second, contempt of court 
in refusing to release them as commanded. In the ab- 
sence of the Territorial Marshal, Henry W. Law- 
rence, the writ was placed in the hands of his chief 
deputy, Robert T. Burton, who was commanded to 
serve and enforce it. It being known that these peo- 
ple were well armed and possessed of a warlike 
spirit, the Deputy Marshal took with him a sufficient 
force to overcome any opposition that might be made. 
The Marshal's posse, numbering two hundred and 
fifty men, arrived near Kington Fort early on the 
morning of the thirteenth of June. A summons to 
surrender was unheeded by Morris, who encour- 
aged his followers to resist. Two cannon shots were 
then fired from the bluff where the posse stood, as a 
warning to the inmates. One of these shots passed 
high over the fort and struck the opposite bluff ; the 
other alighted in a field between the posse and the 
fort, and unfortunately bounded into a "bowery" 
where the people had assembled, killing two women 
and wounding a young girl.t 



*The offices of Territorial Marshal and Territorial Attorney-Gen- 
eral had been created by the Legislature in 1852. They were paid by 
the Territory to attend to that part of its legal and court business 
which arose under the laws of Utah. 

tThe command to surrender had directed the men in the fort, if 
they were determined upon resistance, to remove their women and 
children to a place of safety, and they had been further told that all 
peaceably disposed persons would find protection with the posse. 



^'UTAH HAS NOT SECEDED." 13S 

The Morrisites now grasped their guns and flew to 
their entrenchments, pouring volley after volley of 
musketry in the direction from which the shot had 
come. A three days' battle and siege ensued, during 
which two of the besiegers were killed by the fire 
from the fort. About sunset on the third day a white 
flag was hoisted by those within, and the leader oj 
the posse, with a few men, rode into the fort to re- 
ceive the surrender. 

AVhile the Morrisites were stacking their arms, 
leave was asked for their leader to address them, and 
the request was granted on condition that he would 
say nothing to cause further excitement. Thereupon 
Morris, lifting his hands above his head, shouted: ''All 
who are willing to fo'low me through life and death, 
come on!" Shouts of approval met the appeal, and a 
dash was made for the firearms. The leaders were 
commanded to halt. They heeded not. The com- 
mand was repeated and again ignored. Colonel Bur- 
ton then seized the pistol in his ho^.ster and fired twice, 
several of his men doing likewise. Morris was killed, 
John Banks, his right-hand man, was wounded, and 
two women, who had thrown themselves in the way, 
were slain. The survivors laid down their arms, and 
were marched to Salt Lake City and placed under 
bonds to appear at the next session of the District 
Court. 

Third Movement for Statehood. During the winter 
of 1861-1862 there was another movement for 
Statehood. Utah then had a population of over forty 
thousand, and in view of the withdrawal of so many 
States from the Union, the prospect for her admis- 



136 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



sion seemed most favorable.* The movement to that 
end began in December, when the Legislature passed 

a bill providing for a 
Constitutional Conven- 
tion. Governor Dawson 
vetoed the bill, but the 
election of delegates to 
the Convention took 
place, and they assem- 
l)led at Salt Lake City 
in January.! A Con- 
stitution was framed, a 
full set of State of^cers 
elected, a State govern- 
ment organize d, — 
though, of course, it did 
not go into operation, — 
and Congress was then 
asked to admit the Ter- 
ritory, as the State of 
Captain Hooper. Deseret,intO the Union.? 

The petition was presented by the proposed United 
States Senators, William H. Hooper and George O. 
Cannon. The effort was unsuccessful. 




*"We show our loyalty by trying to get in, while others are try- 
ing to get out," said Delegate William H. Hooper, in a private 
letter written in December, 1860. Captain Hooper had succeeded 
Dr. Bernhisel as Delegate in 1859. 

tThis veto was one of the few official acts of Governor Dawson. 
His tenure of office was very brief. After a residence of a month in 
Utah he left for his home in Indiana, on the last dav of December, 
1861. 

tCalifornia had taken similar action in 1849, and was admitted 
to Statehood in 1850. 



DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 



137 



12. During the Civil War. 

1862—1865. 



The California and Nevada Volunteers. The guard- 
ing of the mail route and telegraph line over the In- 
dian-infested mountains 
and plains — a duty first 
performed by a portion 
of the Utah militia — was 
now placed upon Colonel 
P. E. Connor and the 
California and Nevada 
Volunteers. These 
troops arrived from the 
west in October, 1862. 
They had enlisted to 
fight for the Union in 
the war then going on 
between the North and 
the South, and it was 
much to their disappoint- 
ment that they were or- 
dered to this Territory. 
Their commander, who had been a captain during the 
Mexican War, was one of the first to place his sword 
at his country's service after the breaking out of the 
great Rebellion. Having been made a Colonel of In- 
fantry by the Governor of California, he had recruited 




General P. E. Connor. 



138 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

his companies and was expecting to be sent to the 
front when he received the disappointing order to 
march to Utah. 

Vedette Duty. It was not merely to guard the 
overland route that these volunteers were sent: it was 
to watch over affairs and keep the Government in- 
formed regarding events in and around Salt Lake 
City. The impression made on the mind of the Na- 
tion by the Echo Canyon War had not been entirely 
dispelled. The loyalty of Utah was still in question, 
and it was thought well to keep an eye upon her.* 
As to the feeling over the troops, the people here had 
little if any objection to their coming, but they re- 
sented in their hearts the imputation that came 
with them, reflecting upon the patriotism of the com- 
munity. 

Colonel Connor's command set out for Utah in 
July. It then consisted of the Third California Infan- 
try arid part of the Second California Cavalry. On 
the way a few companies from Nevada joined them, 
making the entire force a little more than seven hun- 
dred men. The Colonel, in advance and alone, ar- 
rived at Salt Lake City on the ninth of September. 
After selecting a site for a military post he returned to 
Ruby Valley, Nevada, and led his troops hither. On 
the seventeenth of October they reached Fort Crit- 



*In California there was talk of a Western Confederacy, should 
the Southern Confederacy succeed in winning its independence, and 
the authorities at Washington were not aware that Utah had received 
and rejected overtures from the South, which, if accepted, would 
have led her into the ranks of rebellion. 



DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 



139 




Officers' Quarters, Fort Douglas. 

tenden (Camp Floyd), and on the twentieth entered 
the capital. 

Fort Douglas. Having saluted the Governor at the 
executive residence, the little army, v^ith bands play- 
ing and colors flying, marched on to the eastern foot- 
hills overlooking the tov^n, and there encamped pre- 
paratory to building Fort Douglas. Until the erection 
of regular barracks, the volunteers sheltered them- 
selves in huts and dug-outs, the monotony of camp 
life being varied by occasional sorties against the In- 
dians.* 



*Fort Douglas — originally called Camp Douglas — was named for 
Senator Stephen A. Douglas. It is situated about two and a half 
miles from Main Street, Salt Lake City. The Volunteers who 
founded the post occupied it until the close of the Civil War, when 
they were relieved by regular troops from the East. 



140 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

The Battle of Bear River. In January, 1863, was 
fought the battle of Bear River, where Colonel Con- 
nor with about three hundred men defeated an 
equally numerous band of Indians and completely 
broke the power of the hostiles in that region. The 
battle occurred on the twenty-ninth. Among the in- 
cidents leading up to it was the proposed arrest of 
three Indian chiefs, who, with their followers, had 
killed some miners in Cache Valley. This informa- 
tion came to Chief Justice Kinney on the nineteenth 
of January. Warrants of arrest were immediately 
placed in the hands of United States Marshal Isaac 
L. Gibbs, and he, realizing that resistance would be 
offered, laid the matter before the commander at 
Fort Douglas. 

Three days later Colonel Connor started a com- 
pany of infantry with two howitzers for the camp of 
the hostiles, twelve miles from Franklin, now in 
Idaho. On the twenty-fifth, the Colonel himself fol- 
lowed, with four companies of cavalry, having as a 
guide Orrin Porter Rockwell, who, like Lot Smith, 
had taken a prominent part in the Echo Canyon cam- 
paign. Marshal Gibbs also went with the expedition. 
The hardships of the march were extreme, the snow 
being deep and the cold intense. Many of the sol- 
diers had their feet frozen. Probably not more than 
two hundred men took part in the engagement. 

The battle began at six o'clock in the morning. The 
Indians were entrenched in a narrow, dry ravine, 
with steep, rocky sides, where they were sheltered 
from the fire of their assailants. The soldiers, while 



DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 141 

advancing along the level tableland, v^ere exposed to 
the volleys of the concealed foe. Several fell, killed 
or w^ounded, at the first fire. These were cavalry- 
men, v^ho M^ere endeavoring to surround the savages 
when the latter defeated the movement by attacking 
them. Meantime the infantry had forded the icy 
waters of Bear River, and a sucessful flanking move- 
ment enabled the troops to pour an enfilading fire 
into the ravine. The Indians fought with fury, but 
were now at a disadvantage. By ten o'clock they were 
routed, and two hundred warriors lay dead upon the 
field. Among the slain were Bear Hunter, Sagwitch, 
and Lehi. Two other chiefs, Sanpitch and Pocatello, 
with probably fifty braves, escaped.* 

The losses on the other side were fourteen men 
killed and forty-nine wounded. Eight of these died 
within ten days, the number including Lieutenant 
Darwin Chase. The battle of Bear River was a 
great benefit to the settlers of Northern Utah. It gave 
the Indians a warning that did not have to be re- 
peated. The military authorities at Washington 
praised and congratulated the brave Californians, 
and two months later Colonel Conner was commis- 
sioned a Brigadier-General. t 

Governor Harding. The Governor of Utah at 
that time was Stephen S. Harding, of Indiana. He 



*Seventy lodges were burned, and a large quantity of grain, im- 
plements, and other property, believed to have been stolen from em- 
igrants, was destroyed or carried to Camp Douglas and sold. 

tSubsequently he became a Major-General for gallant conduct at 
an Indian battle in Montana. 



142 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



had arrived from the East in July, 1862, followed a 
few days later by Judges Charles B. Waite and Thomas 
J. Drake, who succeeded Judges Flenniken and Cros- 
by. The new Governor made an eloquent speech at 
the Pioneer Day celebration soon after his arrival, 

praising the industry and 
patriotism of the people, 
^hB^^^^ and declaring that he 

^^^^^^^^ came among them "a 

^B messenger of peace and 

^^ ^^ t^ good will." In an ad- 

dress of welcome to Col- 
onel Connor and the 
Volunteers he expressed 
some disappointment at 
their coming to Salt 
Lake City instead of re- 
occupying old Fort Crit- 
tenden, but he disclaim- 
ed for the Government 
and its representatives 
any unfriendly motive in 
connection with the 
troops. He advised citizens and soldiers to respect 
each other's rights. 

A Change of Feeling. Governor Harding had not 
been long in Utah when his feelings underwent a 
change. He adopted the notion prevalent at Fort 
Douglas, that the people here were not in sympathy 
with the Government, and in his first message to the 
Legislature (December, 1862) he criticised them on 




Stephen S. Harding. 
Fourth Governor of the Terri- 
tory of Utah, from 1862 to 1863. 



DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 143 

that score. A little later he, with Judges Waite and 
Drake, was charged with seeking to influence Con- 
gress to enact laws hurtful to the interests of the Ter- 
ritory. They were publicly censured in mass meet- 
ings held for that purpose, and President Lincoln was 
petitioned to remove them. As an offset. Colonel 
Connor and his officers sent a petition to AVashington 
asking that the Governor and the two Judges be re- 
tained in their places. A committe of citizens, ap- 
pointed to wait upon them and request them to re- 
sign, met with a flat refusal. 

Strained Relations. A very bitter feeling now pre - 
vailed, and the relations between civilians and soldiers 
were tense and strained. A collision seemed immi- 
nent. The most exciting rumors wxre telegraphed 
east and west, and the press throughout the country 
teemed with comments upon the prospect of ''another 
Utah war." 

Convictions and Pardons. In March, 1863, the 
Morrisites captured at Kington Fort were tried bcr 
fore Chief Justice Kinney. Ten of them had been in- 
dicted for killing two members of the marshal's posse. 
Seven were convicted of murder in the second degree, 
two were acquitted, and the remaining one was not 
prosecuted. Those convicted were sentenced to va- 
rious terms of imprisonment. Sixty-nine others were 
fined one hundred dollars each for resisting an officer 
of the law. 

Within three days of the trial Governor Harding, in 
response to petitions signed by Federal and Fort 



144 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Douglas officers, pardoned all the convicted men. 
Most of them found employment at the Fort, and a 
little later they accompanied a detachment of troops 
to Idaho, where a new military post was established. 
Indignant at the action of the Governor, Chief Justice 
Kinney and the Grand Jury passed formal censure up- 
on his course. 

Official Changes. Before the year ended Governor 
Harding was removed from office and James Duane 

Doty appointed in his 
stead. Chief Justice 
Kinney and Secretary 
Fuller were also remov- 
ed, and these vacancies 
were filled respectively 
by John Titus and Amos 
Reed. In August, Judge 
Kinney was elected Del- 
egate to Congress. He 
followed Dr. Bernhisel, 
who had succeeded Cap- 
tain Hooper in 1861. 

Opening the Mines. 
Mining for the precious 
metals in Utah began in 
the autumn of 1863. 
General Connor headed 
the movement. That the 
mountains of this region 
teemed with gold and silver, as well as with 
lead, copper, iron, and coal, had long been known. 




Judge Kinney. 



DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 145 

but the first settlers were not in favor of an early 
opening of the gold and silver mines. ''We cannot 
eat gold and silver," said Brigham Young to his peo- 
ple; "nor do we wish to attract here the rough char- 
acters so frequently found in mining camps. Devote 
yourselves to farming, grazing, and manufacturing; 
open the coal and iron mines, and let the precious 
metals rest until the proper time comes to bring them 
forth and utilize them." Such was the substance of 
his counsel upom this point. General Connor, there- 
fore, was the pioneer of our gold and silver mining in- 
dustry.* 

How the Movement Started. In Bingham Canyon, 
one of the eastern gorges of the Oquirrh Mountains^ 
a logger named Ogilvie picked up a piece of silver- 
bearing ore, and sent it to General Connor, who had 
it assayed. The General then visited the canyon 
with a party of officers and their wives, and one of 
the ladies, while rambling on the mountain side, 
found another loose piece of ore. The soldiers pros- 
pected for the vein, discovered it, and striking a stake 
in the ground, made their location. The mine was 
named "The Jordan." Soon afterwards General Con- 
nor wrote some mining laws and held a meeting of 
miners at Gardner's Mill on Jordan River. The West 
Mountain Mining District Avas there organized. 

The Vedette and the Telegraph. General Connor's 
next move was to publish the fact to the world. For 



*Tron in Iron County, lead in Beaver County, copper in Salt Lake 
County, and coal in many parts of Utah, had been mined long before 
Colonel Connor came to the Territory. 



146 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

this purpose he and his friends founded "The Union 
Vedette," a paper first issued at Fort Douglas and af- 
terwards at Salt Lake City. It was edited by Captain 
Charles H. Hempstead. "The Valley Tan" and "The 
Mountaineer" were now no more, and the "Vedette" 
was the one journalistic rival of "The Deseret News." 
Its tone was militant, like its title. In January, 1864, 
it was made a daily paper, the first one published in 
Utah. During the following July "The Daily Tele- 
graph" was established, with T. B. H. Stenhouse as 
editor. The first number of the "Vedette" (Novem- 
ber, 1863) contained a circular letter from General 
Connor and Captain Hempstead on the mining outlook 
in these parts. Through the columns of that paper 
miners and others were urged to come to Utah. 

A Provost Guard. In July, 1864, General Connor 
placed a provost guard in Salt Lake City. Captain 
Hempstead was the provost marshal, and Company 
L of the Second California Cavalry acted as the guard. 
It was quartered in an old adobe mercantile building 
that stood nearly opposite the south gate of Temple 
Block; a building since removed to make way for 
Richards Street. Beyond the occasional arrest of a 
"Southern sympathizer," who, to tantalize the boys 
in blue would "hurrah for Jefif Davis" in their hear- 
ing, the soldiers had little to do. Those arrested were 
made to pace to and fro before the military quarters, 
carrying bags of sand, until they had served out their 
sentence. In about a year from the time of its es- 
tablishment the provost guard was withdrawn. 

Bridging the Chasm. A bridging of the social 



DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 147 

chasm that divided citizens and soldiers took place on 
the fourth of March, 1865, when both sides joined with 
one accord in celebrating the second inauguration of 
President Lincoln. After a public procession, in 
which officers and troops from Fort Douglas, detach- 
ments of the milita, and Federal and city authorities 
took part, a program of exercises was rendered in 
front of "The Market," then standing where Main 
and First South streets join. Introductory remarks 
by Captain Hempstead, and a prayer by the military 
chaplain, Norman McLeod, were followed by an ora- 
tion from Judge Titus and a brief address from Cap- 
tain Hooper. The Federal troops were escorted back 
to the post by Colonel Burton and the citizen cavalry. 
In the evening there was a banquet at the City Hall, 
tendered to the Fort Douglas officers and other nota- 
bles. Mayor Smoot proposed as a toast, "The health 
of President Lincoln and success to the armies of 
the Union." All day long bands played, cannon 
roared, and at night the city was illuminated with fire- 
works. 

General Connor, it is said, was greatly moved by 
what he saw and heard that day. He had come to 
Utah with the notion that the Territory was disloyal, 
but as he beheld the great pageant of tradesmen and 
working people who paraded the streets and cheered 
the patriotic sentiments uttered by the speakers, his 
views were much modified. "He wanted differences 
to be forgotten," says Mr. Stenhouse, in a book after- 
wards published, "and with gentlemanly frankness he 
approached the author with extended hand, and ex- 



148 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

pressed the joy he felt in witnessing the loyalty of the 
masses of the people." The "Vedette" expressed itself 
in a similar tone. 

Mourning for Lincoln. A few weeks later the aw- 
ful news was flashed over the wires that President 
Lincoln had been assassinated (April 14, 1865). Utah 
bowed her head in sorrow, and civilians and soldiers, 
again uniting, mourned over the Nation's martyr. It 
was Saturday, the fifteenth, when the tidings came. 
Concerning what followed, the ''Vedette" said: ''The 

merchants, bankers, sa- 
loon keepers, and all 
business men of Salt 
Lake City closed their 
places of business at ten 
a. m. on Saturday. The 
flags on all the public 
l)uildings, Brigham 
Y o u n g's r e s i dence, 
stores, etc., were dis- 
played at half mast, with 
crape drooping over 
them. Many of the prin- 
cipal stores and private 
residences were dressed 
in mourning. Brigham 
I Young's carriage was 
driven through town 
President Lincoln. covered with crape, 

and every one throughout the city, that is, of the 
right-minded class, manifested the deepest sorrow 




DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 149 

at the horrible news conveyed by the telegraph."* 
Early Mining Unprofitable. General Connor went 
on maturing his plans for the development of the min- 
ing resources of the Territory. It was up-hill work, 
and he all but impoverished himself by his strenuous 
exertions. Many mines were located, considerable 
ore was extracted, and some smelting done in Rush 
Valley, but mining in these parts was not a paying 
industry until after the arrival of the railroad. 



*0n the day of the President's burial a joint service was held in 
the Tabernacle. City Marshal Jesse C. Little had charge of the pro- 
ceedings, and Amasa M. Lyman and Chaplain McLeod were the 
speakers. The opening and closing prayers were by Wilford Wood- 
ruff and Franklin D. Richards. 



150 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



13. Later in the "Sixties." 

1865—1869. 

The Colfax Visit. In the summer of 1865 a number 
of distinguished people visited the Territory. Among 
them was the Honorable Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of 
the House of Representatives. In his party were 
Lieutenant-Governor William Bross, of Illinois; Sam- 
uel Bowles, editor of the Springfieid (Massachusetts) 
Republican; and Albert D. Richardson, of the edito- 
rial staff of the New York Tribune. They arrived at 
the capital on the eleventh of June, remained eight 
days, and then proceeded on to California. 

It had been largely owing to Speaker Colfax and his 
services in Congress that the Great West was now in 
the enjoyment of a daily mail, as well as a telegraph 
line, and was about to have the railroad for which it 
had waited so long. He and his friends, to use their 
own words, were ''the recipients of a generous and 
thoughtful hospitality." The coach containing them, 
after leaving Fort Douglas, where they had halted 
for refreshments, was met on the foothills by a com- 
mittee of reception, who conducted the visitors to the 
Salt Lake House,* where apartments had been pre- 



*The Salt Lal<e House, our leading hotel at that time, stood on the 
east side of Main Street, about half way between First South and 
Second South streets. 



LATER IN THE "SIXTIES." 



51 



pared for them. They were the guests of the City 

during their stay.* 

Death of Governor Doty. While the Colfax party 

was at Salt Lake City, 
Governor Doty died 
(June 13), and at the fu- 
neral two days later Mr. 
Colfax acted as one of 
the pall-bearers. The de- 
ceased was a native of 
the State of New York, 
but had come to Utah 
fro'^i Wisconsin. He 
wa"^ in his sixty-sixth 
year when death sum- 
moned him. Governor 
Doty was sincerely 
mourned, for he was 
much beloved. The ob- 
sequies were held at the 
executive residence, and 
the interment took place 
at Fort Douglas. 




James Duane Doty, 
Filth Governor of the Terri- 
tory of Utah, from 1863 to 1865 



Julia Dean Hayne. The next notable visitor was 



*A speech by Mr. Colfax from the hotel balcony; two formal m- 
terviews between him and President Brigham Young; a trip to Rush 
Valley, to view the mining operations there; a bath in the Great 
Salt Lake; a special performance at the Theatre; a Sunday service 
at the Tabernacle, with President Young as the speaker; and later 
in the day an oration at the same place by Speaker Colfax on the 
life and principles of Abraham Lincoln, were the main incidents of 
the visit. In his book, "Across the Continent," Mr. Bowles thus 



152 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



the celebrated actress, Julia Dean Hayne, who came 

with the Potter Troupe 
from California by way 
of Montana, reaching 
Salt Lake City on the 
fifth of August. She was 
returning to New York, 
her early home, after an 
absence of several years 
in the West. Tarrying 
here, she played, an ex- 
tended engagement at 
the Salt Lake Theatre, 
where for the next ten 
months she was the 
reigning queen. Her first 
appearance was on the 
evening of the eleventh 
of August, in her great 
i m p e r s o n a tion, ''Ca- 
mille." Her fame as 
an artiste was national, but in no part of the coun- 
try was she more admired or more esteemed than in 
Utah.* 




Julia Dean Hayne. 



refers to Utah : "We find here a great deal of true and good hu- 
man nature and social culture; a great deal of business intelligence 
and activity ; a great deal of generous hospitality — besides most ex- 
cellent strawberries and green peas, and the most promising orchards 
of apricots, peaches, plums, and apples that these e3^es ever beheld 
anywhere." 

*The Salt Lake Theatre, begun in July, 1861, and completed in 
March, 1862, was planned, built and owned by Brigham Young. 



LATER IN THE "SIXTIES. 



153 



Governor Durkee. Charles Durkee, the sixth Gov- 
ernor of Utah, arrived from the East in the following 
September. Like Governor Doty, he was from Wis- 
consin. It had been hoped that Colonel O. H. Irish, 
Doty's sucessor as Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 
would be the next executive, but Governor Durkee 




Salt Lake Theatre. 



William H. Folsom was the architect and superintendent of con- 
struction. The cost of the building was over one hundred thousand 
dollars. The first performance there was on the evening of the 
eighth of March. It was given by the Deseret Dramatic Association, 
whose manager was Hiram B. Clawson ; Stage Manager, John T. 
Caine. 'The Pride of the Market" and "State Secrets" were the 
plays presented. Doors opened at six o'clock, and the performance 
began at seven. Admission to the parquet and the first and second 
balconies was seventy-five cents ; third circle, fifty cents. Mr. Bowles 
—already quoted— praised this theatre as "a. rare triumph of art and 
enterprise," and further said : "No eastern city of one hundred thou- 



154 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



fell heir to the good will entertained for his predeces- 
sor. With him came Colonel Franklin H. Head, who 
now took charge of the red men. 

Indian Treaties. Colonel Irish and Colonel Head 
were both efficient Indian superintendents. It was 

due to the former, aided 
by the influence of Pres- 
ident Young, that a 
treaty was made with 
fifteen chiefs at the Span- 
ish Fork Reservation 
farm, in June, 1865. 
Among those present 
were Kanosh, Sowiette, 
Sanpitch and Tabby. 
The Indians promised to 
move within a year to 
Uintah Valley, giving up 
their title to the lands 
they were then occupy- 
ing. They agreed to be 
peaceful, to cultivate the 
reservation lands, and 
send their children to the 
schools established for 




Charles Durkee, 
Sixth Governor of the Terri- 
tory of Utah, from 1865 to 1869. 



sand inhabitants,— remember Salt Lake has less than twenty thou- 
sand, — possesses so fine a theatrical structure. It ranks, alike in ca- 
pacity and elegance of structure and finish, along with the opera 
houses and academies of music of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 
Chicago and Cincinnati. In costumes and scenery it is furnished 
with equal richness and variet}^ and the performances themselves, 
though by amateurs, by merchants and mechanics, by wives and 
daughters of citizens, would have done credit to a first class pro- 
fessional company." 



LATER IN THE "SIXTIES." 155 

them. The Government promised to protect them, to 
furnish them with houses and employment, and to 
pay yearly sums to the principal chiefs; also to dis- 
tribute annually among the tribes twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars for ten years, twenty thousand dollars for 
the next twenty years, and fifteen thousand dollars for 
thirty years thereafter. The Indians were permitted 
to hunt, dig roots, and gather berries on all unoccu- 
pied lands, and to fish in their accustomed places. All 
the chiefs named signed the treaty.* 

The Black Hawk War. This treaty was made dur- 
ing the progress of an Indian war, which, though des- 
ultory in character, was the most serious conflict that 
the settlers ever had with the savages. At its close 
the war whoop and the scalping knife disappeared 
from Territorial history. It began in April, 1865, and 
lasted until the latter part of 1867. About seventy 
white people were killed, and a great amount of prop- 
erty was destroyed. Six extensive and flourishing- 
settlements in Sevier and Piute counties, four settle- 
ments in Sanpete County, fifteen in Iron, Kane, and 
Washington counties, and two or three in Wasatch 
county, were abandoned, with an almost total loss of 
stock and improvements. The leader of the hostiles 
was a chief named Black Hawk, and most of his fol- 
lowers were renegade Utes. Sanpitch, violating the 
pledge that he had given, joined in some of the raids, 



*About the middle of September Colonel Irish concluded a sim- 
ilar treaty with the Piede Indians in Washington County, and later 
Colonel Head rendered like service with other tribes. 



Ibb THE MAKING OF A STATE; 

and lost his life during an encounter with the set- 
tlers. 

As usual, this trouble with the Indians grew out oi 
a slight cause. A drunken man at Manti pulled a chief 
off his horse, and the insult was made the pretext for a 
series of raids upon cattle herds in Sanpete, Sevier, 
and other counties. Then followed a fierce conflict in 
which the rifle, the tomahawk, and the torch were 
employed with fatal and desolating effect. The set- 
tlers in the ravaged districts, aided by the militia 
from other parts, bore the full brunt of the war. Mil- 
itary aid was asked for from the authorities at Fort 
Douglas, but the troops there were needed in other 
places, and no aid was given. The militia was then 
ordered out. They served with courage, energy, and 
endurance, several men giving their lives in the cause 
of the general defense. The cost of the war, including 
losses, was one and a half million dollars.* 

The Deseret Telegraph. While the Black Hawk 
War was in progress the Deseret Telegraph Line was 
established and extended through northern, central, 
and southern Utah. The militiamen who were guard- 



*Promineiit among those who lost their lives during that period 
were Dr. J. M. Whitmore and Robert Mclntyre, of St. George, who 
were killed in an Indian attack upon the Pipe Springs Ranch, just 
over the Arizona border, January 8, 1866. Major John W. Vance 
and Sergeant Heber Houtz, officers of the mihtia, were shot by 
Indians in ambush at Twelve-mile Creek, Sanpete County, on the 
second of June, 1867. Another highly respected citizen of Utah, 
Franklin B. Woolley, of St. George, was murdered March 21, 1868, 
near San Bernardino, California. He was returning with goods for 
the St. George store, and had separated from the main body of his 
freight train and was searching for his horses near the Mohave 
River, when he was surrounded by savages and slain. 



LATER IN THE "SIXTIES." 157 

ing the settlements in Sanpete Valley and other parts 
rendered efficient aid in putting up poles, stretching 
wires, and establishing stations. The telegraph was 
of great service to the troops, and strange to say the 
wire was not molested by the Indians. Either they 
were ignorant of the use made of it against them, or 
were too superstitious to interfere with the lightning 
messenger. 

President Young led the movement that brought 
forth this important enterprise. A call issued by him 
to prominent men throughout the Territory (Novem- 
ber, 1865) met with a hearty response. Means were 
collected, the line was surveyed, and the labor of get- 
ting out poles from the canyons immediately begun. 
The money collected for the purchase of wire and 
other materials was sent east in the spring of 1866, 
and in the fall the wagons containing the freight ar- 
rived in Utah in charge of Horton D. Haight. The 
wires were strung where poles had been erected to re- 
ceive them, and on the first of December the line was 
opened between Salt Lake City and Ogden. By the 
middle of January, 1867, five hundred miles of wire 
had been placed. Each mile required three hundred 
and twenty pounds of wire, at thirty-five cents a 
pound. The cost of construction was one hundred and 
fifty dollars a mile. The first circuit extended from 
Logan to St. George, with a branch line to Sanpete 
Valley.* 



*A school of telegraphy, taught at Salt Lake City by John Clowes, 
was attended by students from many of the settlements. A. Milton 
Musser was the first superintendent of the Deseret Telegraph Com- 
pany, and he was succeeded by William B. Dougall. The line was 



158 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Another Grasshopper Plague. During the summer 
of 1867 Utah had another grasshopper visitation. 
With appetite keen and relentless the locusts in count- 
less swarms settled down upon ripening fields, bud- 
ding orchards, and green meadows, devouring every 
thing in their way.* In places they fairly carpeted with 
their bodies the streets, sidewalks, and dooryards, 
shaving off the grass, clean, wherever it was growing. 
They bit sharply whatever they chanced to light upon. 
Human beings were not exempt from their attack. 
The pain inflicted by one was equal to the sting of a 
bee. They stripped the trees of leaves, ate the tender 
bark of twigs, and even killed and devoured each 
other. Great damage was done to crops and vegeta- 
tion throughout the Territory.t 

This visitation was one of a series extending 



extended until it embraced all the mining camps in Utah, reached 
into Idaho, and connected St. George with Pioche, Nevada. A tel- 
egram from General Connor and others, at Pioche (October, 1871) 
expressed appreciation of the enterprise that had connected them 
with the Utah settlements by wire. 

General O. E. Babcock, who in 1866 inspected the military posts 
of the West, reported that Salt Lake City, "from its central locality 
in the heart of the great mountain district, with a line of telegraph 
east to the Atlantic and west to the Pacific, also one running north 
and south through the Territory; its lines of stages to the Missouri 
River and the Pacific, to Idaho and Columbia River, to Montana 
and Pahranagat mines," was "the great half-way place across the 
continent." 

*These swarms were so dense that they almost ...irkened the sun, 
as in the case of a passing cloud or a coming eclipse. 

tThe same year Southern Utah and other parts suffered from 
floods. Several small towns on the Rio Virgen and the Santa 
Clara rivers were almost totally destroyed, 



LATER IN THE "SIXTIES." 



159 



through successive years. In 1868 the people waged 
organized warfare upon the locusts. In 1869 only 
Cache, Iron, Washington and Kane counties suffered 
seriously from them ; other parts escaping and gather- 
ing abundant harvests. 

The Salt Lake Tabernacle. In October, 1867, the 
Salt Lake Tabernacle, one of the noted buildings of 
Utah, was completed, so far as to permit the semi-an- 
nual conference of the Latter-day Saints to be held 
there. The Tabernacle had been in course of con- 
struction since July, 1864. Like its neighbor, the 
Temple, it was designed in a general way by Brigham 
Young, but under him, having charge of the work. 




Temple Block, Salt Lake City, 



160 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



were 



T] 



professional architects and builders. The archi- 
tect of the Tabernacle 
was Henry Grow, who 
was also the superin- 
tendent of construc- 
tion.* 

Political Changes. In 
January, 1867, by an act 
of the Legislature, the 
election of Delegate to 
Congress, which had 
been held since 1851 in 
the odd years, was made 
to fall upon the even 
years, beginning with 
1868, to conform to 
a custom prevalent 
throughout the Nation. 
In 1868 the northeastern 
corner of the Territory, 




Tabernacle Organ. 



*The Tabernacle is a vast elliptical dome, resting upon forty- 
four buttresses of solid masonry. Between these buttresses, which 
are of red sandstone, are twenty large doors, all opening outward, 
and affording speedy egress. The building is two hundred and fifty 
feet long, by one hundred and fifty feet wide, the immense roof, the 
concave ceiling of which is seventy feet from the floor, being arched 
without a pillar. The full height of the structure is eighty feet. The 
seating capacity is about eight thousand, but ten thousand people 
can crowd into the building. The acoustics of the Tabernacle are a 
marvel. A pin dropped at one end of the hall can be heard distinct- 
ly at the other end, over two hundred feet away. The Tabernacle 
Organ, when built, was the largest pipe organ in America, and is 
still one of the great pipe organs of the world. It was designed and 
built by Joseph H. Ridges, a Utah man, and was made entirely of 
native timber. Tt has since been improved in its internal construc- 
tion by the Kimball Company of Chicago. 



LATER IN THE ''SIXTIES." 



161 



a portion of which had been given to Nebraska in 
1863, was cut off to help form the new Territory of 
Wyoming. Another effort for Statehood, put forth in 
1867 and 1868, had the usual unsuccessful outcome. 




One of Several Natural Bridges in San Juan County, Utah. 



1 62 T H E M A K I N G O F A STiVT E. 



14. The Pacific Railroad. 

1863—1869. 

The Iron Horse Approaching. The all-prevaiHng 
topic in Utah at the time now touched by our narra- 
tive was the coming of the raih-oad. Since January, 
1863, the great iron highway, which was destined to 
work so many changes in the social and commercial 
affairs of the West, had been in course of construction 
and was now approaching from two directions the 
Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Utah, with strong 
hand, joining California and the East, had taken hold 
of the mighty enterprise and was helping it across the 
thresholds of her mountain-girt domain. 

Origin of the Enterprise. A railroad from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific was a subject discussed early in 
the Nineteenth Century, but until about the middle of 
that century no practical scheme for its construction 
was put forward. Asa Whitney, a leading financier, 
in a series of popular meetings and in addresses to 
State legislatures, agitated the question from 1844 to 
1850. He proposed that the railroad should begin at 
Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi River, cross the 
Rocky Mountains at South Pass, and fix its western 
terminus on Vancouver Sound, with a branch line 
running to San Francisco. The road was to be built 
by the sale of public lands along its line. Mr. Whitney 
asked from Congress a free grant of alternate sections 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 103 

for a width of thirty miles on each side, for that pur- 
pose. His idea was to establish across North America 
the route of Asiatic commerce to Europe. 

Brigham Young's Forecast. The Pacific Rai.road, 
though much talked of, was treated by most people 
as a Utopian dream, a romance that would never be 
realized. Among those who thought it feasible was 
Brigham Young. When the Pioneers were ascending 
the Valley of the Platte (April and May, 1847) he 
marked out a route over which he believed the road 
would one day pass, and much of the track of the 
Union Pacific Railway now^ lies along that route. 

The Benton Bill. Three years after the Pioneers 
crossed the plains the first Pacific Railroad bill was 
introduced into Congress by Senator Thomas Benton, 
of Missouri. He was father-in-law to John C. Fre- 
mont, the explorer. The Senator said that he hoped 
"to live to see a train of cars thundering down the 
eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, bearing in. 
transit to Europe the silks, the teas, and the spices of 
the Orient." 

The Utah Memorial. In March, 1852, as already 
shown, the Governor and the Legislature of the Ter- 
ritory of Utah petitioned Congress for a "national 
railroad to the Pacific Coast ;" and before that time a 
bill for the construction of such a road had been in- 
troduced in the General Assembly of the State of Des- 
eret. George A. Smith presented the bill. ''Some of 
the members," said he, "considered it a joke, though 
I was never more in earnest." 

Early Surveys. In 1853 and 1854 nine railroad 



164 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

routes were surveyed across the continent, — one of 
them by the ill-fated Captain Gunnison and the expe- 
dition that he commanded. These surveys were auth- 
orized by Congress and were made by order of Jeffer- 
son Davis, who was then Secretary of War. 

Democrats and Republicans Favor the Railroad. 
The Democratic and the Republican National Conven- 
tions, in 1856 and again in 1860, referred to the Pacific 
Railroad in their platforms, and Presidents Pierce, 
Buchanan, and Lincoln all mentioned it in their mes- 
sages to Congress. Prior to 1860 the Legislatures of 
eighteen States had passed resolutions in its favor. 
The main arguments put forth were the development 
of the western country, the attracting of Asiatic com- 
merce across the Pacific and through the United 
States to Europe, and the protection of the western 
coast from foreign invasion. 

Congress Takes Action. The Act of Congress au- 
thorizing the raih'oad was signed by President Lin- 
coln on the first of July, 1862. By this act the Gov- 
ernment proposed to aid in the construction of a rail- 
road and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the 
Pacific Ocean, and to secure to itself the use of the 
same for postal, military, and other purposes. The as- 
sistance offered to those who would build the road 
was a loan of Federal bonds for thirty years, and a 
gift of twenty million acres of land. Each bond w^as 
for a thousand dollars, and sixteen bonds were to be 
lent for each mile of railroad and telegraph line com- 
pleted. Tlie land to be given was on each side of the 
proposed railroad. Subsequently Congress offered 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 165 

still greater inducements.'^ At length enough private 
capital was invested to carry forward the enterprise. 

The Companies that Built the Road. The Act of 
1862 created the Union Pacific Railroad Company, 
which built the line westward from Omaha, that point 
having been designated by President Lincoln as the 
eastern terminus. The Central Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany, which was already in existence, was allowed to 
construct tlie western division and share in the ad- 
vantages of the contract with the Government. This 
company had been organized in 1861, under a general 
law of the State of California, to build a railroad from 
the Western Coast. 

The Work Begins. At Sacramento, on the eighth 
of January, and at Omaha, on the second of Decem- 
ber, 1863, ground was broken for the Pacific Railroad. 
Later there was some discouragement and some de- 
lay, but after the increase of the subsidy granted by 
the Government the work made giant strides to com- 
pletion. Twenty-five thousand men and six thousand 
teams were employed on the Union Pacific and the 
Central Pacific railroads as they advanced to meet 
each other on the shore of the Dead Sea of America. 

Utah Interests Involved. Stupendous efTorts wxre 
made by the competing companies to determine how 
far east or west of the Great Salt Lake each would be 
able to extend its track before meeting that of the rival 
road. The aim, of course, was to secure as large a 
share as possible of the Government subsidy. There- 

*Thc amount per mile was increased for some places to $32,000, 
and for other places to $48,000. 



166 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



fore it became an object to obtain assistance from the 
people of Utah. The question as to whether the rail- 
road would pass north or south of the Lake was also 
an important one, especially to Salt Lake City. On 
the tenth of June, 1868, a mass meeting was held in 
the Tabernacle, with a view to influencing the com- 
panies to choose the southern route and pass through 
Salt Lake City. The decision of the engineers, how- 
ever, was in favor of the northern route, and the rail- 
road went that way. 

Brigham Young a Contractor. A few days before 
the mass meeting in question Brigham Young, who 

was a stockholder in the 
Union Pacific Company, 
accepted from Samuel 
B. Reed, superintendent 
of construction, a con- 
tract to grade ninety 
miles of the road, from 
the head of Echo Can- 
yon westward. Three 
sons of the President — 
Joseph A. Young, Brig- 
ham Young, Jr., and 
John W. Young — acted 
as his agents in letting 
the sub-contracts. Thou- 
sands of men were want- 
ed to work on the grade. 
''On to Echo!" was the 
cry, and forthw^ith teams 
and wagons, loaded with 




John Shaki' 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 167 

workmen, tools, provisions, and camping outfits, went 
rolling through the canyons from the populous val- 
leys west of the Wasatch Mountains.* 

Other Contracts. Eastward from Echo Canyon a 
large contract was taken by Joseph F. Nounnan and 
Company. Mr. Nounnan w^as the senior partner of 
Nounnan, Orr & Co., a banking firm of Salt Lake 
City.t The one great Utah contract on the Central 
Pacific was that of Ezra T. Benson, Lorin Farr and 
Chauncey W. West. Mr. Benson lived in Logan, and 
his two partners in Ogden. Benson, Farr and West 
built the grade from the vicinity of Humboldt Wells 
to Ogden City, a distance of two hundred miles. | 

The Railroad Reaches Ogden- The arrival of the 
Union Pacific road at Ogden (March 8, 1869) was the 



*The main contractors under Brigham Young were John Sharp 
and Joseph A. Young, who employed five or six hundred men on the 
heavy stone work and tunnels of Weber Canyon. 

tFrom Mr. Nounnan the Kimball Brothers, David and Heber, and 
W. Riley Judd, took contracts and built parts of the grade along Sul- 
phur Creek, Yellow Creek and Bear River. The author, then a lad 
of thirteen years, was an employe of his uncle, David P. Kimball. 
His duty was to carry drinking water to the workmen on the grade. 
Two months of this service with bucket and dipper made him mus- 
cular enough to "drive team" and "tip scraper," and for thirty days 
longer he "roughed it" at Kimball's camp on Bear River. "Roughed 
it," indeed, for we lived like bears, in caves and dugouts, when not 
in tents and wagons, and grew as strong as young cubs in their na- 
tive wilds. 

$Fifty-three miles of their work — from Promontory to Ogden — 
was never used, owing to the fact that the Union Pacific reached 
Ogden first and pushed on to Promontory, paralleling the Central 
Pacific between those points. When Ogden became, by Act of Con- 
gress, the "Junction City" — the common terminus of the two roads — 
the Central Pacific purchased from the Union Pacific its section of 
track, and abandoned the superfluous grade built by itself. 



168 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

occasion of a joyful celebration. It was about half past 
eleven a. m. when the track-layers came in sight of 
the "J^^i'^ction City." The excited inhabitants, from 
the top of every high bluff or other commanding ele- 
vation, "feasted their eyes and ears with the sight and 
sound of the long expected and anxiously looked for 
fiery steed." On it came, the workmen in front put- 
ting down the rails, and the locomotives, as fast as 
the iron path was prepared for them, steaming up be- 
hind. At half past two p. m. they reached the town, 
where, amid the raising of flags, the music of bands, 
the shouts of the people, and the thunder of artillery, 
the advent of the railroad was celebrated with the 
wildest enthusiasm. "Hail to the Highway of Na- 
tions! Utah bids you welcome!" was one of the mot- 
toes displayed in the popular and official gathering 
that greeted the arrival of the "iron horse." 

The Meeting at Promontory. The greater event of 
ihe meeting of the two lines on the northern shore of 
the Great Salt Lake was reserved for Monday, the 
tcnih of May, two months and two days after the cele- 
bration at Ogden. At Promontory Summit, 690 miles 
east from Sacramento, and 1,086 miles west from 
Omaha, the last rail was laid, the last spike was 
driven, and both tracks were welded into one. The 
Pacific Railroad was completed. 

The junction had been effected a short time before, 
but two lengths of rails had been left for the final pro- 
ceedings. Spectators began to arrive at about eight 
o'clock in the morning, and by noon eleven hundred 
people had assembled upon the scene, representing by 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 



169 




The Driving of the Last Spike. 



birth nearly all the civilized nations of the world. 
Trains from East and West brought leading railroad 
men and newspaper representatives from all parts of 
the .comitry. Mingling in the throng were many 
prominent citizens of Utah and the surrounding Ter- 
ritories. The Chinese laborers on the western di- 
vision having with picks and shovels leveled the road- 
bed preparatory to putting in place the last ties and 
rails, this work was now done, all but the laying of one 
rail.* The Union Pacific locomotive Number 119 
and the. Central Pacific locomotive ''Jupiter" then 
moved up to within thirty feet of each other, and all 
was ready for the closing scene of this memorable act 
in the great drama of modern events. 



^Europeans (principally Irish) on the Union Pacific, and Asiatics 
(Chinese) on the Central Pacific, directed by Americans, laid the 
last rails to complete the "Highway of Nations.' 



170 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

The Final Ceremonies. Edgar Mills, of Sacramen- 
to, read the program of ceremonies, after which the 
dedicatory prayer was offered by the reverend Dr. 
Todd, of Massachusetts. Then came the presentation 
of spikes — one of pure gold from California, one of sil- 
ver from Nevada, and one of iron, silver and gold from 
Arizona. These spikes were presented, with appro- 
priate speeches, to the President of the Central Pa- 
cific Railroad Company — Governor Leland Stanford, 
of California — who received the gifts in behalf of both 
companies, and responded with a suitable address. 
General Superintendent G. M. Dodge, for the Union 
Pacific Company, then said : ''Gentlemen, the great 
Benton proposed that some day a giant statue of Co- 
lumbus should be erected on the highest peak of the 
Rocky Mountains, pointing westward, denoting this as 
the great route across the continent. You have made 
the prophecy, today, a fact. This is the way to India." 
The last tie upon which the rails of the two roads met 
was put in position by S. B. Reed and J. H. Strow- 
bridge, the two superintendents of construction. The 
tie was made of California laurel, beautifully polished, 
and was ornamented with a silver plate, bearing the 
names of the directors and officers of the Central Pa- 
cific Railroad Company.* 



*The gold spike used in this ceremony was the gift of David H. 
Herves, of San Francisco. It was seven inches long and worth 
$460, having been made from twenty-three twenty-dollar gold pieces. 
As a matter of course, none of these valuable spikes went into the 
road. Like the silver-plated tie, which, as soon as laid, was removed, 
and an ordinary tic substituted, the spikes were preserved as me- 
mentoes of the occasion. 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 171 

East and West Shake Hands. It was now half past 
twelve, and at a given signal Governor Stanford and 
Dr. T. C. Durant — the latter a Union Pacific notable 
— struck the spikes and drove them home. Tele- 
graphic connection had been made in such a way that 
these blows were sent vibrating along the wires to 
every telegraph ofhce between the Atlantic and the 
Pacific, between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mex- 
ico. It was done by attaching the wires to the spike 
mauls, every blow from which announced itself as it 
fell. In San Francisco the wires were connected with 
the fire alarm in the Tower, and in Washington with 
the bell of the Capitol, so that the strokes of the silver 
sledge were not only heard throughout the land, but 
were sent ringing down the Potomac and out through 
the Golden Gate, to greet old Neptune in his watery 
realm and acquaint him with the glad tidings.* 

No sooner was the last spike driven than the pent 
up feelings of the on-looking multitude burst forth in 
tliunderous hurrahs. Three cheers were given for 
the Government of the United States, three cheers for 
the Pacific Railroad, three cheers for the Presidents, 
three for the Star-Spangled Banner, three for the la- 
borers, and three for those who had furnished the 
means to build the road. The official announcement of 



*The same electric flash caused the discharge of heavy guns from 
the batteries of San Francisco. Salt Lake City and other Utah 
towns received the tidings at thirty-two minutes past twelve. In- 
stantly at the capital the Stars and Stripes were unfurled, brass and 
martial bands struck up lively airs, and artillery salutes were fired 
from Arsenal Hill and from the vicinity of the City Hall and the 
County Court House. A half holiday of general rejoicing followed. 



172 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



its completion was telegraphed to the President of the 
United States — Ulysses S. Grant — and to the Associ- 
ated Press, immediately after the driving of the last 
spike. At the conclusion of the proceedings the two 
locomotives, standing face to face, moved forward un- 




East and West Shake Hands. 



til they touched each other, and a bottle of wine was 
poured as a libation on the last rail. So, over 
Utah, the East and the West shook hands, and the 
Continent was girdled with a belt'of steel. 



WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 1 



/o 



15. What the Railroad Brought. 

1869—1873. 

Changes in General. Only in a brief way can this 
small history describe the changes that took place in 
Utah as the result of the coming of the railroad. Those 
changes were many and varied. The Territory enter- 
ed upon a new era. The days of isolation were past. 
Tourists from East and West flocked here to see the 
much talked of people and their institutions.* Rail- 
roads and telegraphs threw a network of steel and 
electricity over a region formerly traversed by the 
slow-going ox team and the lumbering stage coach. 
The mines were developed and mining became profit- 
able. Industry on every hand revived. Population in- 
creased and values of all kinds rose. With the inflow 
of capital came the establishment of great business 
houses, the continued discovery and development of 
valuable mines, the multiplication of churches, schools 
and newspapers, and the formation of rival political 
parties, the first that Utah had known. 

The Utah Central Railroad. The same month that 
beheld the meeting of the Union Pacific and the Cen- 

*Among the first to come by rail were Vice-President Colfax, 
Senator Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois ; Dr. John P. Newman, of 
Washington, D. C. ; General W. S. Hancock, U. S. A. ; Roscoe Conk- 
ling, of New York ; Carl Schurz, of Missouri ; Oliver Ames, Presi- 
dent of the Union Pacific- Railroad Company; Major Powell, the ex- 
plorer ; and the eccentric lecturer and writer, George Francis Train. 



174 



THE MAKING OF A STATR. 



tral Pacific railroads at Promontory saw the begin- 
ning of the first local line, the Utah Central, uniting 
Salt Lake City and Ogden. Brigham Young, at the 
railroad mass meeting in Salt Lake City (June, 1868), 
had said: ''If the company that first arrives should 
deem it to their advantage to leave us out in the cold, 
we will not be so far ofT but we can have a branch line 






,Ft^ 



Old Utah Central Railroad Depot, Ogden. 

for the advantage of this city." When, therefore, it 
became evident that the road would not pass through 
Salt Lake City, he proceeded to make good his prom- 
ise respecting the branch line. Hence the creation of 
the Utah Central Railroad Company, organized on 
the day that the Union Pacific track reached Ogden.* 



*The organizers were Brigham Young, Joseph A. Young, George 
Q. Cannon, Daniel H. Wells, Christopher Layton, Briant Stringham, 



WHAT THE R.VH.ROAD BROUGHT. 1/5 

How the Branch Line was Built. Ground was 
broken at Ogden, May 17, 1869, President Young re- 
moving the first sod; and the last spike was driven by 
him at Salt Lake City, January 10, 1870. Each event 
was witnessed by a great throng of residents and vis- 
itors. At the conclusion of the ceremonies attending 
the completion, a salute of thirty-seven guns was 
fired — one for each mile of the road. 

This line was built literally by the people. No large 
contracts were let, and those who constructed it took 
stock in the road for part of their remuneration. Col- 
onel Carr, a Union Pacific ofiicer, one of the speakers 
on the tenth of January, referred to the Utah Central 
as ''perhaps the only railroad west of the Missouri 
River that had been built entirely without Govern- 
ment subsidies." In all probability it would not have 
been built so soon, had the Union Pacific Company 
paid the Utah contractors more promptly. At the final 
settlement, which was delayed by lack of funds, the 
contractors accepted, in lieu of the same amount in 
cash, six hundred thousand dollars worth of rails, lo- 
comotives, cars, etc. All this property went into the 
home road and hastened its construction and equip- 
ment. 

Superintendent Joseph A. Young, in his speech 
at the driving of the last spike, invited East, West, 
North and South to come up to Utah and learn of her 



David P. Kimball, Isaac Groo, David O. Calder, George A. Smith, 
John Sharp, Brigham Young, Jr., John W. Young, WiUiam Jen- 
nings, Feramorz Little, and James T. Little ; all of Salt Lake City, 
except Mr. Layton, who Hved at Kaysville, Davis County, through 
which part the road was to run. 



176 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



ways. ''The more our actions and works as a people 
are investigated," said he, "the higher we stand in the 

estimation of those 
whose good opinion is 
w o r t h having." He 
hoped that the last spike 
of this road would be 
but the first of the next, 
extending from this 
place to "the cotton 
country " — Southern 
U t a h — and that he 
^^•ould live to see the day 
when every nook and 
corner of the Territory 
capable of sustaining hu- 
man beings would be 
settled by good, honest, 
hard-working people, 

and penetrated bv rail- 
TosEPH A. Young. i o, 

roads. ^ 

Other Railroads. Next came the Coalville and Echo 
Railway, for which ground had been broken in Octo- 
ber, 1869. The work was pushed through rapidly, 
and by the time the Utah Central was completed coal 
direct from the Weber mines could be laid down at 
Salt Lake City. Then followed the Utah Southern 




*The Utah Central is now part of the Oregon Short Line, at 
whose depot on Third West Street the last spike was driven. The 
steel mallet used on that occasion was made by James Lawson, of 
Salt Lake City, who also made the spike from iron manufactured 
years before in Southern Utah by Nathaniel V. Jones. 



WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 177 

(May, 1871), connecting Salt Lake City with Provo, 
and eventually with Juab and Frisco. A little later, 
home and eastern capital built the Utah Northern, a 
narrow-gauge line from Ogden through Weber, Box 
Elder, and Cache counties, to Franklin, Idaho. A 
l^ranch of this road joined Brigham City and Corinne, 
a Central Pacific town a few miles above the mouth of 
Bear River.* The Utah Nevada Railway — now in the 
San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake system — was 
begun in April, 1873. Running westward from Salt 
Lake City, it skirted the southern shore of the lake, 
and beyond the Oquirrh Mountains turned southward, 
passing through Tooele Valley toward Rush Valley. 
The terminus was at Stockton, a town laid off by Gen- 
eral Connor, and occupied originally by soldiers from 
Fort Douglas, who were prospecting for mines in that 
vicinity. t 

The Mining Industry. One great efTect of the rail- 
road was the development of the mining industry. 
From the autumn of 1863 to the autumn of 1865 — our 
first real mining period — but little was accomplished 
though much was undertaken in this direction. A 
great deal of money was expended, mines were locat- 



*The Utah Xorthern became a standard-gauge line after passing 
into the possession of the Union Pacific Company, which also ab- 
sorbed the Utah Central and the Utah Southern roads. The Union 
Pacific still retains its original title, but the Central Pacific is now 
(1908) in the Southern Pacific system. The Utah Northern is part 
of the Oregon Short Line ; and the Utah Southern a branch of the 
San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake. 

tAs early as November, 1869, a dispatch from Corinne announced 
the arrival there of a schooner laden with silver ores, lumber, ma- 
chinery, etc., from Stockton. This was looked upon as the beginning 
of navigation on the Great Salt Lake, but the hope was not realized. 

12 



178 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



ed and opened, and one or more smelting furnaces 
erected in Rush Valley; but owing to inexperience in 
smelting ores, scarcity of charcoal, and high rates of 
transportation, these enterprises — started by General 
Connor and others — languished and finally became 
bankrupt. The Knickerbocker and Argenta Mining 
and Smelting Company, organized in New York City 
to operate in Rush Valley, met with no better success. 
It was impossible, without a railroad, to make mining- 
pay, and the attempt was soon abandoned. In the lat- 
ter part of 1865 the mining movement went to sleep. 
Operations in Little Cottonwood. The awakening 

that came with the rail- 
road was especially man- 
ifest in Little Cotton- 
wood Canyon, one of 
the great gorges of the 
Wasatch Range, run- 
ning westward into Salt 
Lake VaHey. There the 
first discovery of silver- 
l:)earing lead ore had 
been made b}^ General 
Connor in 1864. Noth- 
ing was done in the way 
of development, how- 
ever, until the Litle Cot- 
tonwood Mining Dis- 
trict was organized, 
about four years later. 
The earliest to operate 
C.M'TAiN Woodman. there were the Wood- 




WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 179 

hull Brothers, who made the first shipment of Utah 
galena ore in the summer of 1869. It was sent to 
the Selby Reduction W^orks, San Francisco. An- 
other early shipment w^as made to James Lewis 
and Company, Liverpool, England; the ore being- 
smelted at Swansea, Wales. The sucess of these 
ventures gave an impetus to mining all over the 
Territory. In 1868 Utah had but two mining dis- 
tricts;* in 1871 there were thirty-two. The Emma 
mine, located by Captain A\'oodman in 1868, w^as sold 
in England for five million dollars. Its neighbor, the 
Flagstaff, originally owned by Nicholas Groesbeck 
and Sons, w^as disposed of in the same market for one 
and a half millions. These were not the only big min- 
ing sales of the period. 

The Ophir District. During the excitement caused 
by the rich developments in Little Cottonwood, horn 
silver was found in East Canyon of the Oquirrh 
Range."!' There the Ophir Mining District was or- 
ganized, the first location being made in 1870. It was 



*The Rush Valle}^ District embraced all the western slope of the 
Oquirrh Mountains, and the West ]\Iountain District the eastern 
slope. ]\Iany of the claim-owners in and around Rush Valley were 
soldiers from Fort Douglas. When relieved by regular troops 
(1865-6), the volunteers left Utah to seek employment elsewhere. 
Before going, those who had mining prospects brought about an 
amendment of the mining laws, making claims perpetually valid 
which had had but little work done upon them. This action pre- 
vented the same ground from being re-located, and retarded the de- 
velopment of the mines in that district. 

tEast Canyon — cast with reference to Tooele Valley, into wliich 
it ryns, 



180 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



the Silveropolis Mine, the earHest workings of which 
—forty tons, shipped west by the Walker Brothers 

— n e 1 1 e d twenty-four 
thousand dollars. The 
richness of the discov- 
eries in Little CottO;i- 
Avood and Ophir made 
Utah famous as a first- 
rate mining- field. 

Early Mining Camps. 
Every district had its 
"camp," or ''town," 
where dwelt the miners 
and other workmen. The 
more important ones at 
the beginning were 
Bingham, in Bingham 
Canyon, and Alta, in 
Little Cottonwood. In 
1871-2 the Ontario Mine 
was opened. It created 
Park City and made Robert C. Chambers a million- 
aire. Other famous properties were afterwards lo- 
cated there. 

Smelters and Stamp Mills. Smelters were erected in 
Salt Lake Valley during the summer of 1870, the first 
one completed being that of the Woodhull Brothers, 
at the junction of State Street and Big Cottonwood 
Creek. From these works was shipped the first bul- 
lion ])ro(luce(l in Utah. In 1871 the Walker Brothers 
built the Pioneer Crushing and Amalgamating Mill in 




Joseph R. Walker. 



WHAT THE RAn.ROAD BROUGHT. 18i 

East Canyon. It had fifteen stamps, and was used for 
working the silver ores of Ophir. 

Silver and Lead the Staples. Silver and lead were 
the main products of the Utah mines, but gold was 
also found in Bingham Canyon and in other places. 
Between the summer of 1869 and the autumn of 1871, 




Bingham. 

ten thousand tons of silver and gold ores, valued at 
$2,500,000, were shipped from the Territory; also 
four thousand five hundred tons of gold and silver bul- 
lion, worth $1,237,000; and two hundred and thirty- 
one tons of copper ore, valued at $6,000. Silver bars, 
obtained by milling the silver ores, produced $120,000. 
During the same period the annual product of gold 



182 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 




Park City. 

from Bingham Canyon was greatly increased by im- 
proved sluicing methods.* 

The Co-operative Mercantile Movement. Just 
before the arrival of the railroad a great mercantile 
movement was set on foot in Utah. It resulted in the 
establishment of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile In- 
stitution, better known by its initials — Z. C. M. I., 



*The Utah Central and the Utah Southern raih'oads, with their 
extensions, did much for the mining industry. Connecting lines to 
Bingham, Little Cottonwood, and American Fork canyons were soon 
running, and the ores from these and other localities found speedy 
transit to the mills and smelters at home and abroad. Later, the 
LUah Eastern (now a branch of the Denver and Rio Grande) passed 
up Parley's Canyon and helped to develop the mines at Park City. 



WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 183 

the largest commercial enterprise that this region has 
known. Brigham Young was at the head of the move- 
ment, and around him were such leading financiers as 
William Jennings, William H. Hooper, Horace S. 
Eldredge, and other men of affairs, all active workers 
in its interest. They founded at Salt Lake City a 



1^ 


-J^^— * 


-::£^ 


^^^^1^31 


' :mmmmmms^S! 


iitMiiiifjyyHBil 





Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution. 



great parent institution, which dealt directly with 
wholesale houses east and west, and was itself the 
main source of supply for mercantile and industrial 
concerns throughout the Territory. At the same time 
it carried on a retail trade of its ow^n at the capital 
and at other points. Its avowed purpose was to unite 



184 



rHE MAKING OF A STATE. 



the material interests of the old settlers, in order to 
meet the competition that was about to surge in from 

outside sources. It pro- 
posed to keep down 
prices and promote 
home manufactures. Lo- 
cal merchants were in- 
vited to turn in their 
stocks of goods and be- 
come part owners, and 
the peop^.e generally 
were solicited to take 
shares. The movement 
was launched in Octo- 
ber, 1868. The institu- 
tion flourished. Its 
growth was phenomen- 
al. Co-operation became 
the watch-word of the 
hour. All over Utah and 
even beyond her borders 
enterprises were con- 
ducted along these lines.* Not all the local merchants 
joined in the movement. The chief rival of Z. C. M. I. 




Joseph F. Smith. 
President of Z. C. M. T. since 1901. 



*Some years before Z. C. M. I. was established, Lorenzo Snow and 
others founded the Brigham City Mercantile and Manufacturing As- 
sociation — a co-operative concern with many departments — and the 
success of that venture helped to pave the way for the greater move- 
ment that followed. The first co-operative store under the new sys- 
tem was opened at Provo, after which Salt Lake City and other 
towns wheeled into line. Among the leading promoters of co-opera- 
tion were George A. Smith. George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, 
Abraham O. Smoot. Frastus Snow, and Moses Thatcher. 



WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 185 



as a business house was the p'reat mercantile firm of 



Walker Brothers."^ 




Walker Brothers' Store. 

Home Industries. The co-operative period was 
prolific of home industries. They started up on every 
hand. Prominent among them were the woolen mills. 
Some of these had been in existence for several years, 
but all felt the impetus of the general revival then in 
progress. The Provo AA'oolen Mills, founded by A. 
O. Smoot and others in 1869, while not the first in 
point of time, were by far the most successful. One 



*Both these great houses are still in existence, though many 
changes have passed over them. Z. C. M. I. no longer represents a 
co-operative system. 



186 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



of the earliest was a cotton and woolen factory at 
Washington, Washington County, built by Brigham 
Young in 1865, and sold later to the Rio Virgen Man- 
ufacturing Company, of which Erastus Snow was 
President.* 




pRu\(.> Woolen Mills. 

A Land Office Opened. In March, 1869, the first 
United States Land Oi^ce w^as opened at Salt Lake 
City. The national land laws were now extended 
over the Territory, and the people, after long wait- 
ing, obtained legal titles to their real estate, and were 
confirmed in the possession of their homes. The first 
Register of the Land Office was C. C. Clements, who 
was soon succeeded by General George R. Maxwell. 



*Tn 1873 seven woolen mills and one woolen and cotton mill were 
operating in Utah. Two were near Salt Lake City, one at Brigham, 
one at Beaver, and one at Grantsville. 



WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 187 

Churches and Schools. Up to January, 1865, the 
only church in Utah — if we except one or two of its 
dissenting factions — was the Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints. Before the railroad came that 
religious body had built the Salt Lake Tabernacle, 

partly reared the Salt 

Lake Temple, and pro- 
jected similar structures 
at St. George, Logan, 
and Manti, besides dot- 
ting the land from Bear 
Lake to tlie Rio Virgen 
with chapels, school- 
houses and other public 
buildings.* 

At the opening of 1865 
the Congregationalists 
began to hold meetings 
at Salt Lake City, with 
Chaplain McLeod, of 
Fort Douglas, as the of- 
hciating minister. The 
Congregational Society 




Bishop Tuttle. 



built Lidependence Hall, which stood near the corner 



*The Church school system since established by the Latter-day 
Saints dates from 1876. In addition to the Brigham Young Univer- 
sity at Provo, the Brigham Young College at Logan, and the Latter- 
day Saints University at Salt Lake City, it comprises seventeen Stake 
Academies, most of them in Utah. A name that will always be asso- 
ciated with the system is that of the veteran educator, Dr. Karl G. 
Maeser. So far, the greatest structure erected by the Latter-day 
Saints is the Salt Lake Temple, completed in April. 1893. One of 
the latest is the Groves L. D. S. Hospital, opened in 1905. 



188 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



now occupied by Walker Brothers' store. It also in- 
corporated Salt Lake Academy, erected Hammond 
Hall, and established a free school, out of which has 
since grown the Phillips Congregational Church. 

Early in 1867 the Episcopal Church made a mis- 
sionary district of Utah, Idaho, and Montana, and 
placed Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle in charge of the dio- 
cese. He held his first service in Independence Hall. 
About that time St. Mark's school was established, 
and three years later St. Mark's Cathedral was built. 
In 1872 the Episcopalians founded St. Mark's Hos- 




St. Mark's Hospitai.. 



pital, the first institution of its kind in Utah. Later 
came Rowland Hall, a boarding and day school for 
girls. 

Presbyterian work in Utah dates from the rise of 



WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 189 




First Presbyterian Churcei. 



Corinne (March, 1869). The first Presbyterian 
Church at Salt Lake City was organized in 1871, with 
the Reverend Josiah Welch as the resident pastor. 
He preached in Faust's Hall, on Second South Street 
(about where the Wilson Hotel now stands), until 
a church building was completed. 

The Methodist Church sent its first missionary to 
Utah in the spring of 1870. He was the Reverend 
Gustavus M. Pierce, who also held services in Faust's 



190 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 




Bishop Scanlan. 



College.* 



HaP'. Afterwards a 
church was erected by 
the Methodists near the 
spot wdiere the Pioneers 
camped in July, 1847. 

In November, 1871, 
the Roman Catholics 
dedicated the Church of 
St. Mary Magdalen, at 
Salt Lake City. The pas- 
tor at that time was 
Father Scanlan, the 
present Bishop of the 
Salt Lake diocese. The 
Catholic Church found- 
ed St. Mary's Academy, 
the Hospital of the Holy 
Cross, and All Hallows 



The University. Among the institutions that re- 
vived at the opening of the railroad era was the Uni- 
versity of Deseret, which, after a long period of help- 



*This brief mention covers merely the pioneer labors of those 
churches in Utah. All the leading Christian denominations, Hebrews, 
Masonic orders, and other societies, now have buildings in the chief 
towns of the State. St. Mary's Cathedral, built by the Catholics at 
Salt Lake City in 1900, is a beautiful and imposing edifice. It 
eclipses its handsome and stately neighbor, the First Presbyterian 
Church, (erected in l902), and rivals even the Salt Lake Temple. 
The private schools established at different points by various denom- 
inations, especially the Presbyterians, were of a high order, and their 
example and influence did much to bring the public school system 
to its present state of efficiency. The Presbyterians also founded the 
Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, 



WHAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 191 




St. Mary's Cathedral. 



less inactivity, took on a new and permanent lease of 
life. In December, 1867, it again opened its doors to 
students, in the Council House, one of its early homes. 
During the next two years it was conducted chiefly as 
a commercial school by David O. Calder. In the au- 
tumn of 1869 it was more fully organized under the 



192 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 




direction of Dr. John R. 
Park, and from that time 
its course, if not always 
prosperous, has been uni- 
formly progressive.* 

Newspapers. In No- 
vember, 1867, "The Des- 
eret Nev\As," till then a 
weekly and semi-weekly 
paper, began its career 
as a daily — "The Des- 
eret Evening News" — 
with George O. Cannon 
in the editorial chair. 
"The Union Vedette" 
had passed out of exist- 
ence. In January, 1868, William S. Godbe and Elias L. 
T. Harrison founded "The Utah Magazine," which 
gave way two years later for "The Mormon Tribune." 
That paper, in April, 1871, was changed from a week- 
ly to a daily and re-named "The Salt Lake Tribune." 
The editor of the first Tribune was Edward W. Tul- 
lidge, wdio was associated with Messrs. Godbe and 
Harrison in "The New Movement," a conservative 
opposition to the so-called "dominant church," as dis- 
tinguished from the opposition put forth by the Salt 
Lake Tribune and its supporters. The first editor of 
the second Tribune was Frederick Lockley. In June, 
1870, "The Daily Telegraph" was succeeded by "The 



Dr. John R. Park. 



"^l^lie Lhiivcrsit>- of Deseret is now the' Lhiivcrsity of Utah, the 
name haxing been ehanged by the Legislature in 1892. 



\\HAT THE RAILROAD BROUGHT. 193 

Salt Lake Herald," established by Edward L. Sloan 
and William C. Dunbar, the former as editor. They 
took in as a third partner John T. Caine. The ''Her- 
ald" and the "Tribune" were morning" papers, and 
like the "Deseret News," powerful journals, wielding 
much influence over public opinion. Another news- 
paper of note that sprang up about the same time was 
"The Ogden Junction," edited by Charles W. Penrose. 
Several smaller prints were published at the capital 
and in two or three of the country towns. 

Two Political Parties. Henceforth Utah was to 
have at least two political parties. Up to this time 
she had but one, namely, the People's Party, some- 
times called the Church Party, because most of its ad- 
herents were members of the Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints. The Liberal Party, which now 
came into existence, was made up of all classes not in- 
cluded in the People's Party. The Liberals recognized 
General Connor as the "father" of their organization, 
though he was not its immediate founder. It grew 
out of a coalition between the class represented by 
him and by those who followed after Mr. Godbe. 

The Liberals put their first ticket in the field at the 
Salt Lake City election, February, 1870, when their 
candidate for Mayor, Henry W. Lawrence, was de- 
feated by the People's candidate, Daniel H. Wells. 
At Corinne, in July of the same year, the Liberals 
nominated George R. Maxwell for Congress, and in 
August he likewise met defeat in the re-election of 
William H. Hooper. General Maxwell contested for 
the seat, but Captain Hooper secured it, and continued 
to serve as Delegate until 1873. 



13 



m THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



16. Last Years of Brigham Young. 

1870—1877. 

The Foremost Citizen. Brigham Young, so long as 
he Hved, was the foremost citizen of Utah, — not in an 
official way, but by virtue of his ability, personal mag- 
netism and .commanding influence. His position 
at the head of a church comprising in its membership 
most of the inhabitants of the Territory, gave him 
much of his influence, but not all. He was by nature 
a leader of men, with a genius for organization and 
government. With or without office he would have 
been influential in any community. His power was' 
unusual, but it was one of the forces of his time, and 
was doubtless necessary to the accomplishment of the 
great colonizing work that he had undertaken. 

That some persons should object to the wielding of 
so much influence by a private citizen, was but nat- 
ural. This was particularly the case when, as Fed- 
eral officers representing the Nation in the Territory, 
they felt that the Government itself was wronged by 
the homage paid to the great Pioneer. That hom- 
age, which in the minds of most of the citizens was 
deserved, in the opinion of the minority was undue or 
at least excessive. 

The War Governor. Among those bent upon cur- 



LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 195 



tailing the power in question was Governor J. Wilson 
Shaffer, who succeeded Governor Durkee as our Chief 
Executive.* He was a native of Pennsylvania, but at 
the time of his appointment had been for twenty years 

a resident of Illinois. 
During the Civil War he 
had been General But- 
ler's chief of staff, and 
had served his country 
with courage and fidel- 
ity. He was now in his 
forty-third year, an in- 
valid, dying of consump- 
tion, but w^as a man of 
iron will, forceful and 
intensely patriotic. He 
looked upon Utah as he 
looked upon the States 
that had been in rebel- 
lion. Here, as well as in 
the South, he thought 

there was need of "re- 
J. Wilson Shaffer, ^ ^. „ j ^ ^i 

Seventh Governor of the Territory construction, and tO the 
of Utah, 1870. task of "setting things 

right" in this Territory he devoted the remaining 
months of his life. "Never after me," he exclaimed, 
"shall it be said that Brigham Young is Governor of 
Utah." In this attitude he was sustained by the Ad- 
ministration at Washington and by most of the Fed- 
eral officers who surrounded him. 




*Governor Durkee died December 21, 1869, at Omaha, on his way 
back to Wisconsin. 



196 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Woman Suffrage. A source of annoyance to the 
new Executive was an act passed by the Legislature 
shortly before his arrival, conferring the elective fran- 
chise upon the w^omen of Utah.* This act was ap- 
proved by Secretary S. A. Mann, as Acting-Governor, 
on the twelfth of February, 1870, and in the latter part 
of March Governor Shaffer reached Salt Lake City. 
It was feared by him and his local advisers, the lead- 
ers of the Liberal Party, that the w^oman vote would 
strengthen the People's Party and perpetuate the con- 
ditions that they opposed. 

Camp Rawlins Established. In the spring of 1870 
General Philip H. Sheridan, who had previously been 
in Utah, made another visit to the Territory to es- 
tablish a new military post, a site for which had been 
selected some time before. Camp Rawlins — named 
after the Secretary of War — was founded in April, 
near Provo, and was first occupied by a detachment 
of Fort Douglas troops under Colonel Hough. After- 
wards several companies from the east, under Major 
Osborne, were stationed there. These troops had 
been sent as "a moral force" for the benefit of the 
Governor and his official associates. 

The Militia Forbidden to Train. Governor Shaffer 
soon had an opportunity to put his policy into effect. 
On the sixteenth of August General Wells, com- 
mander of ''The Nauvoo Legion," directed the usual 
fall musters to be held in the various military districts 



*Wyoming had adopted woman suffrage previously, but Utah was 
a close second in conferring upon her daughters the right to vote. 



LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 197 

not later than the first of November. The Governor 
countermanded these directions. By proclamation, 
on the fifteenth of September, he appointed P. E. Con- 
nor Major-General, and William M. Johns Colonel 
and Assistant-Adjutant General, of the militia, and 
forbade the citizen soldiers to muster or train without 
the orders of the Governor or the United States Mar- 
shal. All arms and munitions belonging to the Terri- 
tory or to the United States then in the possession of 
the militia, he ordered to be delivered immediately to 
the Assistant-Adjutant General. 

General Wells and Governor Shaffer. A corre- 
spondence ensued betw^een General Wells and Gover- 
nor Shaffer. The General requested the Governor to 
suspend his order prohibiting the musters until the 
tv^entieth of November, v^hich would give Adjutant- 
General H. B. Clawson time to make a complete re- 
port of the militia and fully comply with the terms of 
the proclamation respecting the delivery of arms and 
munitions. The Governor, however, refused to 
modify his order. 

A Military Riot. Just one week after the procla- 
mation relating to the militia was issued, a party of 
forty drunken soldiers from Camp Rawlins raided the 
town of Provo at night, destroying property, breaking 
into houses, and abusing citizens. The rioters were 
armed with needle guns, bayonets and revolvers, and 
did not hesitate to use them. The marauding con- 
tinued until at length a body of citizens armed them- 
selves and pursued the peace disturbers. A few shots 



198 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

were fired, and the riot was quelled without blood- 
shed. The provocation for the outbreak was the re- 
fusal on the part of citizens to sell liquor to some of 
the soldiers and rent to them their dancing halls. 

The affair at Provo was much regretted by Major 
Osborne, commanding at Camp Rawlins ; and by Gen- 
eral De Trobriand, the commander at Fort Douglas. 
Governor Shafifer likewise deplored it, — all the more 
since it enabled the citizens to complain justly of the 
presence of the new troops, quartered here at his sug- 
gestion.* The Governor denounced the riot in unmeas- 
ured terms, and a heated correspondence followed be- 
tween him and General De Trobriand, who was in no 
way responsible for the disturbance, the soldiers at 
Camp Rawlins not being under his command. Never- 
theless, he, by special instructions from General 
Augur, at Omaha, investigated the riot and took steps 
to punish the rioters. 

General Sherman in Utah. Early in October, 1870, 
Salt Lake City was honored by a visit from General 
William T. Sherman, the Commander-in-Chief of the 
United States Army. The eminent soldier was re- 
turning from a tour through California and Oregon. 
He was accompanied by his daughter, also by General 
Schofield and other military officers. They stayed at 
the Townsend House, on West Temple Street, where 
they were serenaded by the Parowan choir, which 



*For several years the most friendly relations had existed between 
the civihans and the soldiers at Fort Douglas, especially after Gen- 
eral De Trobriand became the commander of the post. 



LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 199 

happened to be in the city attending a church confer- 
ence. ''Hard Times Come Again No More" was ren- 
dered by the choir. The war-worn veteran had de- 
clined to address the multitude that gathered in front 
of the hotel, but he could not resist the sweet singers 
whose music touched his heart. In a feeling response 
to their request for a speech, he thanked them for 
their song, and expressed the hope that the people of 
Utah might long enjoy the homes they had built in the 
desert, and that for them ''hard times" might indeed 
"come again no more." 

Death of Governor Shaffer. Governor Shaffer died 
on the last day of October. His wife had passed away 




The Town send Housi: 



200 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



a few months before, at their old home in Illinois, and 
this loss, added to his enfeebled physical condition, 
hastened his end. Flags were half-masted in his 

honor, and after the fu- 
neral, which was con- 
ducted by the Reverend 
G. M Pierce, the re- 
mains were escorted by 
the Masonic Fraternity, 
Fort Douglas troops, 
Federal, Territorial and 
City officers, to the Utah 
Central depot, and sent 
to Freeport, Illinois, for 
interment. 

New Appointments. 
The same afternoon a 
dispatch from Washing- 
ton announced the ap- 
pointment of Vernon H. 
Vaughn, of Alabama, as 
Governor of Utah, and 
George A. Black, as Sec- 
retary. Mr. Vaughn had held the latter office under 
Governor Shaffer, and Mr. Black had been the Gover- 
nor's private secretary. 

Testing the Proclamation. About the time when 
the military musters would have taken place had they 
not been forbidden, an attempt was made to test the 
validity of the dead Governor's mandate, which was 
regarded by many as an infringement of the Constitu- 
tion, since it interfered with the right of the people to 




Vernon H. Vaughn, 

Eighth Governor of the Territory 

of Utah, from 1870 to 1871. 



LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 201 

bear arms. Certain militia officers, with about two 
hundred men, held a drill on the Twentieth Ward 
Square, near where the Lowell School now stands. 
Governor Vaughn was absent, but Secretary Black, 
acting in his stead, had eight of the officers arrested 
and taken before Associate Justice Hawley, who, af- 
ter a hearing, held them to await the action of the 
Grand Jury.* As they declined to give bonds, they 
were placed in charge of the military authorities at 
Fort Douglas. They were treated kindly. Genera] 
Henry A. Morrow, who had charge in the temporary 
absence of General De Trobriand, allowing them the 
full liberty of the camp. The Grand Jury failed to 
indict them, and that was the end of the episode, 
which became known as "The Wooden Gun Rebel- 
lion." 

Acting-Governor Black's Decree. A similar situa- 
tion, but one that promised a far more serious out- 
come, arose in the summer of 1871, when Salt Lake 
City proposed to celebrate with more than usual 
"pomp and circumstance" the birthday of the Nation. 
A committee representing all classes was appointed 
for the purpose, and at the request of that committee 
General Wells ordered out a few companies of militia 
to aid in the celebration. Governor Vaughn was no 
longer in office, and his successor. Governor George 
L. Woods, was awav, but he was known to be in full 



*The officers were Andrew Burt. Charles R. Savage, William G. 
Phillips, James Fennamore. Charles Livingston, George M. Ottinger, 
Archibald Livingston, and John C. Graham. 



202 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



accord with the policy of 
Governor Shaffer. Mr. 
Black, who had been re- 
appointed Secretary, had 
already shown himself to 
be in harmony with that 
policy. As Acting-Gov- 
ernor he now issued a 
proclamation forbidding 
all persons to take part 
in any military drill, 
muster, or parade of any 
kind at any place in 
Utah, until ordered to do 
so by the Governor. Mr. 
Black was so much in 
earnest that he called 
upon the commander at 
Fort Douglas" for the 
soldiers of the garrison 
to enforce his decree against the militiamen who were 
preparing to parade on the Fourth. General De Tro- 
briand informed the Acting-Governor — whose right to 
call for the troops he did not question — that his com- 
mand would be in readiness, but the order to fire upon 
the militia he would not give. The point was pressed 
no further. There was no collision on Independence 
Day. The companies called out by 
marched in line, but were not under 
regular troops who came down from 
present only as spectators. 

Chief Justice McKean. Meantime Chief Justice 




George L. Woods, 

Ninth Governor of the Territory 

of Utah, from 1871 to 1874. 



General Wells 
arms, and the 
the Fort were 



LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 203 



James B. McKean, who had been appointed to office 
in June, 1870, as the successor to Chief Justice C. C. 
Wilson, had arrived in the Territory, and had been 

assigned to the Third 
Judicial District. Judge 
McKean was a native of 
Vermont and had been a 
Colonel of Volunteers in 
the Civil War. He was 
a scholarly gentleman, 
and, like Governor Shaf- 
fer, a sincere patriot. 
When he received his 
western appointment he 
was practicing law in 
New York City. Zealous 
and determined, he pro- 
posed to do all in his 
power to change condi- 
tions in Utah. His asso- 
ciates, Judges C. M. 
Hawley and O. F. 
Strickland, were one 
with him in spirit and purpose. 

Territorial Laws Set Aside. The three magistrates 
began their united career by declaring null and void 
certain laws that had been enacted by the Legislature 
for the government of the courts over which they pre- 
sided. Among those laws was one creating the offices 
of Territorial Attorney-General and Territorial Mar- 
shal, whose duty it was to attend to that part of the 
Territorv's le2:al business that arose under the laws 





'^^^^^^ 


■:J 


V^Jlm 


-9H 


l%^^k 




• »^^^*^J^^ 


Wk 


|jP 



Judge McKean. 



204 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

of Utah.* Judge McKean and his associates decided 
that their courts were United States courts, to be gov- 
erned only by the Acts of Congress. They main- 
tained that the Legislature had no authority to pre- 
scribe rules for their guidance, and that the Territorial 
officers could not legally attend to any of the business 
of their courts. They also declared void a lav^ giving 
to Probate Courts the power to try criminal and other 
important cases. These laws, enacted in 1852, had re- 
ceived the implied sanction of Congress, not having 
been disapproved by that body after being submitted 
to it. The Legislature deemed them necessary to pro- 
tect the people in their rights, but the Federal Judges 
held that they crippled the District Courts and inter- 
fered with the administration of justice. 

Judge McKean also set aside a law, enacted in 1859, 
prescribing the method of selecting jurors, to indict 
criminals and try cases in the courts. The law re- 
quired that the jurors should be drawn by lot from 
the names of the tax-payers found on the County as- 
sessment rolls. Judge McKean decided that they 
should be selected by the United States Marshal. 

The Englebrecht Case. The decision relating to 
jurors was destined to become noted. Paul Engle- 
brecht, a liquor dealer, and his associates in business, 
had violated an ordinance of Salt Lake City by selling 
liquor at retail under a license that permitted them to 
sell it only at wholesale. As the result, their estab- 
lishment had been abated by the police. Barrels and 



*The part that arose under the Acts of Congress was attended to 
b}^ the United States Attorney and the United States Marshal. 



LAST YEARS OF BRlGHAM YOUNG. 205 

kegs containing whisky, brandy, wine, and beer were 
rolled into the street, the heads knocked in, and the 
contents poured into the gutter. Every vessel con- 
taining liquor and every article used in its sale had 
been destroyed. The Territorial Marshal, John D. T. 
McAllister, Alderman Jeter Clinton, Chief of Police 
Andrew Burt and several other officers had been ar- 
rested by United States Marshal M. T. Patrick, and 
after a hearing before Judge Strickland, had been held 
under bonds to answer to the Grand Jury. Such was 
the situation at the opening of the Third District 
Court, in September, 1870. 

A Grand Jury Formed. The Grand Jurors for that 
term of court had been summoned on a writ of open 
venire; that is, they had not been drawn by lot, as 
the law prescribed, but had been selected by the Unit- 
ed States Marshal, as ordered by Chief Justice Mc- 
Kean. The attorneys for Marshal McAllister and the 
city officers objected to the manner in which the jur- 
ors had been obtained, but the Judge overruled the 
objection. The Grand Jury was then formed, and an 
indictment was found against the officers who had 
authorized and taken part in the abatement of the 
liquor store. Their act was described as a wilful and 
malicious destruction of property. 

The Trial Jury and the Verdict. Next the trial jury 
was formed, and the case, after a full hearing, was 
submitted to them. They brought in a verdict sus- 
taining the claim of the liquor dealers and deciding 
that those who had destroyed their property should 
pay three times its value, or nearly sixty thousand dol- 



206 THE MAKING OP A STATE. 

lars.* The Supreme Court of the Territory — Chief 
Justice McKean, Associate Justice Hawley, and Asso- 
ciate Justice Strickland — affirmed the decision of the 
lower court, and the case then went up on appeal to 
the Supreme Court of the United States. 

A Decision from Washington. That high tribunal 
handed down its decision in the Englebrecht case on 
the fifteenth of April, 1872. It decided that the Fed- 
eral courts in Utah w^ere not United States courts in 
the sense that the Judges had held them to be, and 
that the Territorial Marshal and the Territorial At- 
torney-General were legal officers of those courts. 
Judge McKean's ruling on the selection of jurors was 
set aside, and the juries formed under that ruling were 
declared illegal and their findings null and void. The 
effect of the decision was to quash over one hundred 
indictments, and to liberate from prison or release 
from bonds a large number of persons, including sev- 
eral prominent citizens, who had been charged by a 
self-confessed murderer with directing him to commit 
various crimes. 

A Fifth Effort for Statehood. During that year 
Utah again knocked for admission at the door of the 
Federal Union. A bill providing for a Constitutional 
Convention was passed by the Legislature and vetoed 
by Governor Woods. The law-makers then adopted a 
joint resolution, and under its provisions the Conven- 



*This was the law relating to wilful and malicious destruction of 
property. Three times the value of the property destroyed was al- 
lowed as damages. 



LAST YEARS OF BRtGHAM YOUNG. 20? 



tion assembled at Salt Lake City in February, 1871.* 
A State Constitution was framed, and after being rat- 
ified by the people it was carried to Washington by 
George O. Cannon, Thomas Fitch, and Frank Fuller, 
delegates chosen for that purpose. Favorable action 

was again deferred by 
Congress, and for ten 
years Utah made no fur- 
ther attempt to secure 
Statehood. 

The Poland Law. In 
June, 1874, Congress en- 
acted the Poland Law, 
which repealed the legis- 
lation relative to the 
Territorial Marshal and 
the Territorial Attor- 
ney-General, and placed 
the powers and duties of 
those officers upon the 
United States Marshal 
and the United States 
Attorney. Decisions al- 
ready made by the Pro- 
bate Courts were con- 
firmed, but their extended and unusual powers were 
taken away, and they were limited to matters pertain- 
ing to estates, guardianship, and divorce. The draw- 
ing of grand and petit jurors was placed in the hands 




Samuel B. Axtell, 
Tenth Governor of the Territory 
of Utah, 1875. 



*The Legislature, up to 1870, met annually, but beginning with 
1872 it held biennial sessions, in accordance with an Act of Congress- 
making the change. 



208 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



of the Probate Judge and the Clerk of the District 
Court. 

New Federal Officers. In December, 1874, Gover- 
nor AA oods, who had been in office since February, 
1871, was succeeded by Governor Samuel B. Axtell, 
who, much to the regret of most of the citizens, was 
transferred, in the summer of 1875, to New Mexico. 
His successor was Governor George W. Emery, for 

whom Emery County 

was named.* In March 

of that year Judge Mc- 

Kean was removed, the 

vacancy being filled by 

the appointment of 

Chief Justice David B. 

Lowe. 

President Grant Visits 

j^ Utah. The year 1875 

"^SBbji^^ was made memorable by 

^^^^HBk the visit of President 

% m<» - Ulysses S. Grant, the 

^ ^■^■- first President of the 

United States to set foot 

within the Territory. He 

arrived at Salt Lake 

City on the afternoon of 

Sunday, the second of 

October, and remained 

till the afternoon of the following day. The President 

was accompanied by Mrs. Grant, also by General O. 




President Grant. 



*Governor Woods was from Michigan, Governor Axtell from Cal- 
ifornia, and Governor Emery from Tennessee. 



LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 209 

E. Babcock, Colonel Fred Grant and wife, Adolph E. 
Borie, ex-Secretary of the Xavy, and Governor John 
M. Thayer, of Wyoming. The party, traveling from 
Colorado over the Union Pacific Railroad, was met at 
Peterson, in Weber Canyon, by Governor Emery and 
a committee of ten prominent citizens. At Ogden 

another committee, rep- 
resenting Salt Lake City, 
extended the municipal 
hospitalities to Presi- 
dent Grant and those 
who accompanied him ; 
but an invitation from 
the Governor, to be his 
guests durino- their stay, 
had already been accept- 
ed. Among those who 
welcomed the Chief 
INIagistrate were Presi- 
dent Brigham Young 
and his future successor, 
John Taylor. After in- 
troductions and hand- 
shakes, all proceeded by 
Gforge W. Emery. • ^ ^|^^ j^^j 

JLleventh Governor of the Tern- ^ ' 

tory of Utah, from 1875 to 1880. where a great multi- 
tude, including thousands of Sabbath school children, 
gave the honored guest an ovation as his carriage 
drove through their ranks from the railroad depot to 
the hotel — the Walker House on Main Street.* A 




*The Walker House stood on the site now occupied by the Keith- 
O'Brien Building. 



14 



210 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



reception followed, and next morning President 
Grant visited the Temple grounds, the Tabernacle, 
Fort Douglas, the Penitentiary, and other principal 
points. At four o'clock he set out upon his return to 
Denver.* 

The Arsenal Hill Explosion. Late in the afternoon 
of the fifth of April, 1876, three heavy detonations, 




The Walker House. 



startling in their suddenness and almost deafening in 
sound, shook Salt Lake City to its foundations, terri- 
fying the inhabitants, and scattering fear and con- 
fusion for miles around. Several minutes passed be- 



General Grant — no longer President — was in Utah a second time, 
when returning from his famous tour around the world. At Ogden 
the great soldier was greeted by the public as before, and gave an 
informal reception at the rear door of his private car. 



LAST YEARS OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 211 

fore the citizens divined the cause. Men, women and 
children ran hither and thither, excited, alarmed, and 
many of them hysterical. So long as the mystery was 
unsolved the terror was tenfold. Walls were blown 
down, roofs torn off, doors and shutters flung from 
their fastenings, and window glass shattered and 
strewn broadcast. 

Presently the solution came. A huge cloud of 
smoke hovering over Arsenal Hill told the story.* 
At a point near the present Capitol Hill grounds had 
stood three small stone houses, owned by several 
mercantile firms, and used for the storage of pow- 
der. These houses, with forty tons of powder, had 
blown up, and the falling debris pattered like hail on 
the hillsides and pelted different parts of the town. 
Several persons were killed and others wo-unded by 
the explosion and by .descending projectiles. A wom- 
an was crushed by a block of stone while in the act 
of drawing water from a well. One boulder crashed 
through a roof and embedded itself in the floor, after 
smashing a cradle from which a frightened mother 
had just taken her infant child. Splinters of wood, 
stone, glass, and iron flew through the air, striking 
and stinging the hands and faces of people hurrying 
to and from their homes. Buildings on a level with 
the magazines were damaged most, those under the 
hill being measurably protected. 

The cause of the accident was never fully explained, 
but it was supposed that some boys, known to have 



* Arsenal Hill, just north of the cit.v, took its name from the Ar- 
senal of the old Salt Lake Military District, which once stood there. 



212 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



been shooting in that neighborhood, had used the iron 
door of one of the magazines as a target, and that 
they were the first victims of the explosion that fol- 
lowed. 

Death of Brigham Young. Brigham Young, the 
founder of Utah and the first Governor of the Ter- 
ritory, died on the twenty-ninth of August, 1877. He 
passed away at his home, the Lion House, in Salt 




Lion House, President's Office, and Bee-Hive House. 



Lake City. His last public appearance was at a meet- 
ing in the Council House on the evening of August 
twenty-third, when he appointed a committee to su- 
perintend the removal of the Old Tabernacle and the 
erection in its place of the building known as the As- 
sembly Hall. At the time of his death he was in his 



Last years of brigham young. 213 

seventy-seventh year, having been born at Whiting- 
ham, Vermont, on the first of Jnne, 1801. The de- 
parted leader was widely and deeply mourned. After 
a funeral at the Tabernacle the remains were con- 
veyed by a mourning pageant to the Young Family 
Cemetery on F'irst Avenue, and there consigned to 
the tomb. 




The Assembly Hall. 



214 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



17. Strife and Storm. 

1880-^1888. 

People and Liberals. The political light between 
the People's Party and the Liberal Party lasted for 
twenty years. Thirteen of those years were after the 
death of Brigham Young. The struggle was carried 
on with great persistency and was characterized at 
times by much bitterness, but it helped to clear the 
way for Statehood, and when the end came all classes 
were weary of the strife and ready for the era of good 
feeling that followed. The hottest part of the battle 
began in the autumn of 1880; an eventful season, in 
that it saw not only the beginning of a great contest 
over the Delegateship, but also the visit to Utah of 
another President of the United States. 

The Visit of President Hayes. It w^as Sunday, the 
fifth of September, when President Rutherford B. 
Hayes, accompanied by his wife, by Secretary of War 
Ramsey and General Sherman, with their wives, and 
by General A. McDowell McCook, reached Salt Lake 
City. They remained one night and then continued 
on their way to California. The reception given to 
President Grant several years before was virtually re- 
peated at the visit of President Hayes. Two mem- 
bers of the party were destined to return and reside 
for several years in Utah. Reference is made to Gen- 



STRIFE AND STORM, 



215 



eral McCook, who succeeded General John E. Smith 
as commander at Fort Douglas, and Secretary Ram- 
sey, who was the first Chairman of the Utah Com- 
mission, concerning which more will be said here- 
after. 

The Cannon-Campbell Contest. In November of 

that year George Q. Can- 
non was re-elected Del- 
egate to Congress.* Four 
times already this gen- 
tleman had been chosen 
for that ofifice, and twice, 
after his election, his 
right to the place had 
been legally contested 
by his opponent, who 
carried the case to 
Washington. Mr. Can- 
non, at the close of each 
contest, had been admit- 
ted to his seat in the 
House of Representa- 
tives and had served out 
his term. In 1872 it was 
General Maxwell who 
ran on the Liberal ticket 




George Q. Cannon. 



ainst him, and in 1874 Robert N. Baskin was his op- 
ponent.! In 1876 and in 1878, the Liberals, losing 



*The time for holding the election of Delegate had been changed 
from August to November some years before. 

tin August, 1874, the Liberals captured Tooele County, and held 
it until March, 1879. 



216 



THE MAKING OF A STAI^E. 



heart to some extent, did not even put up a ticket. In 
1880, however, they gathered their full strength, and 
though still in a hopeless minority throughout the 
Territory, they made a vigorous fight, and gave their 
candidate nearly fourteen hundred votes, as against 
more than eighteen thousand votes cast for George 
Q. Cannon. The Liberal candidate was Allen G. 

Campbell, a rich mine 
owner of ^Southern 
Utah.* 

Governor Murray and 
the Election Certificate. 
Utah had as her Gov- 
ernor at that time Gen- 
eral Eli H. Murray, of 
Kentucky, a journalist 
and a lawyer by profes- 
sion, and during the 
Civil A^^ar one of Sher- 
man's officers in his fa- 
mous ''March to the 
Sea." Governor Mur- 
ray had succeeded Gov- 
ernor Emery in the 
spring of this memora- 
ble year. He put himself 
at the head and front of the fight against the People's 
Party, which, to him and his associates, represented 
the power that had been wielded by Brigham Young, 




Allen G. Campbell. 



*Mr. Campbell was one of the main proprietors of the Horn Silver 
mine, at Frisco, in Beaver Countv. 



STRIFE AND S1X)RM. 



217 



and which they maintained was perpetuated in his 
successor, John Taylor, and the men surrounding 
him. To make the Liberal cause triumphant by force 
of numbers was impossible, but Governor Murray 
saw another method that might be tried, and he forth- 
with put it into effect. 

The law defining the duty of the Governor after 

the election of a Dele- 
gate to Congress ran 
thus : "The person hav- 
ing the greatest number 
of votes shall be declar- 
ed by the Governor duly 
elected, and a certificate 
shall be given according- 
ly." The person, in this 
case, was George Q.Can- 
non, but Governor Mur- 
ry refused him the certi- 
ficate and gave it to his 
defeated opponent, Allen 
G. Campbell ; basing his 
action upon the ground 
that Mr. Cannon was 
not a citizen of the Unit- 
ed States, and was oth- 
erwise disqualified to serve. 

Proceedings at Washington. Governor Murray 
then left for the East, on a visit to his old home in 
Kentucky; but Secretary Arthur L. Thomas, the Act- 
ing-Governor, at the request of Mr. John T. Caine, 




Eli H. AlrRRAY, 
Twelfth Go\-ernor of the Territory 
of Utah, from 1880 to 1886. " 



218 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

who represented the absent Delegate, gave a certi- 
fied statement of the number of votes cast for each 
candidate at the election. This statement w^as for- 
warded to Washington, and upon the showing pre- 
sented, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, at 
the opening of the Forty-seventh Congress, pla'ced 
the name of George Q. Cannon upon the roll of mem- 
bers. Mr. Campbell also applied for enrollment, and 
in December, 1881, the opening debate in the Cannon- 
Campbell contest took place. 

The Delegate's Seat Declared Vacant. Proceedings 
continued at intervals until April, "1882, and on the 
nineteenth of that month, by a majority vote of the 
House of Representatives, the seat of the Utah Dele- 
gate was declared vacant. Neither Mr. Cannon nor Mr. 
Campbell was permitted to occupy it. The question 
of Mr. Cannon's citizenship was not passed upon. As 
a matter of fact the charge against him on that score 
was groundless. What disqualified him to serve any 
longer as Delegate was a law enacted by Congress 
while the contest was still pending. That law — 
known as the Edmunds Act — will be referred to later. 

The Sixth Constitutional Convention. In April of 
the same year another Constitutional Convention as- 
sembled at the Utah capital. Again Congress was 
asked to confer Statehood upon the Territory. For 
the first time the name Deseret was dropped, as the 
title of the proposed State, and the name Utah sub- 
stituted. With this exception the proceedings of the 
Convention did not vary much from the preceding 



STRIFE AND STORM. 



219 



ones, nor was the result any different. Utah was 
again denied admission into the Union. 

The Utah Commission. The Edmunds Act pro- 
vided for a board of live Commissioners to supervise 
elections in Utah. The members of that board — the 
Utah Commission — were appointed by the President 
of the United States. The original appointees were 
Alexander Ramsey of Minnesota, Algernon S. Pad- 
dock of Nebraska, George L. Godfrey of Iowa, Am- 
brose B. Carlton of Indiana, and James R. Petti- 
grew of Arkansas. They arrived at Salt Lake City on 
the eighteenth of August, too late to arrange for the 




The Utah Commission. 



220 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



elections that should have been held that month. The 
elections therefore lapsed. Congress, to relieve the 
situation, empov^'ered the Governor to make appoint- 
ments to fill any vacancies that might have been 
caused by the failure to elect. Thereupon Governor 
Murray appointed nearly two hundred persons to of- 
fice in the various counties of the Territory. The 
holders of the offices, hov^ever, refused to vacate 

them, taking the ground 
that they had been elect- 
ed to continue in them 
until their successors 
w^ere elected and quali- 
fied. They maintained 
that no vacancies exist- 
ed, and therefore refused 
to surrender the places. 
Before the case could be 
settled in the courts the 
time for another election 
had come round. 

A New Delegate. The 
first official act of the 
Utah Commission was 
to prepare for the elec- 
tion of a Delegate to 
Congress, by providing 
the necessary officers 
to revise the registration lists and conduct the elec- 
tion. The Edmunds Act had cut down the voting 
strength of the People's Party, but it still had an 
overwhelming majority, which the Liberals endeav- 




JoHN T. Caine. 



STRIFE AND STORM. 221 

ored still further to reduce by attacking the validity 
of the Woman Suffrage Act. The Commissioners re- 
fused to declare the Act invalid, and Chief Justice 
John A. Hunter, at Salt Lake City, Associate Justice 
Philip H. Emerson, at Ogden, and Associate Justice 
Stephen B. Twiss, at Beaver, all rendered decisions 
in its favor. Then followed the election (November 
7, 1882), at which John T. Caine, the People's Party 
candidate, was chosen Delegate, defeating Philip T. 
Van Zile, the candidate of the Liberal Party.* Mr. 
Caine was elected not only to the Forty-eighth Con- 
gress, but also to serve out the unexpired portion of 
Delegate Cannon's term in the Forty-seventh Con- 
gress. Mr. Van Zile instituted a contest, but was un- 
successful, and Delegate Caine was duly admitted to 
his seat in the House of Representatives (January, 
1883 ).t 

Another Great Railroad. In the spring of that year 
the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, uniting the cap- 
itals of Utah and Colorado, was completed to Salt 
Lake City. The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, 
since their meeting at Promontory in 1869, had held 
an almost unbroken monopoly of the railroad busi- 
ness of Utah. Especially was this true of the Union 
Pacific, which had speedily acquired possession or 
control of most of the local lines subsequently con- 
structed. Now a powerful competitor entered the 



*The vote stood : For Mr. Caine, 23,039 ; for Mr. Van Zile, 4,884. 

tjohn T. Caine was elected Delegate five times in succession. In 
1884 he defeated Captain Ransford Smith, of Ogden ; in 1886. Colonel 
William M. Ferry, of Park City; in 1888, Judge Robert N. Baskin. 
and in 1890, Judge Charles C. Goodwin, both of Salt Lake City. ' 



222 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

field, and a new era in our commercial life began. The 
new road conferred immediate benefit upon the Ter- 
ritory. Passenger fares and freight rates were re- 
duced, and the development of the resources of this re- 
gion was greatly stimulated.* 

Prospering in Adversity. So the Territory pros- 
pered, in spite of the unrest and agitation that fright- 
ened away capital and population, but could not en- 
tirely destroy prosperity, nor hinder the promotion of 
great enterprises. That Utah continued to advance 
under such conditions is proof positive of the sterling 
character of her people, and of the attractive richness 
of her unbounded material wealth. 

Storm Follows Strife. The strife over politics was 
as nothing compared with the storm over religion that 



*The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in Utah was an outgrowth 
of the system bearing that name in Colorado. The work of con- 
struction from the Western Colorado border began in 1881, and the 
last rail was laid at Salt Lake City abut the last of March, 1883. 
This point, however, was not to be the terminus of the road. The 
plan was to extend it to Ogden, and there join with the Central Pa- 
cific, thus establishing another through route between the East and 
California. The line from Salt Lake City to Ogden was opened for 
business early in May. The Denver and Rio Grande, originally a 
narrow-gauge line, was broad-gauged in 1890. 

Salt Lake City had had a street railway since July, 1872. The first 
line was opened for traffic on South Temple Street, eastward from 
the Utah Central depot to West Temple Street, whence it ran south 
and east as far as the Ninth Ward. This line was soon followed by 
a branch to the Warm Springs, and by other extensions. The found- 
ers of the enterprise were Brigham Young, Jr., William B. Preston, 
Seymour B. Young, Moses Thatcher, John W. Young, John N. Pike, 
Le Grand Young, Parley L. Williams, William W. Riter, and Ham- 
ilton G. Park. Horse power was used by the Salt Lake City Railroad 
at first, electricity not being employed until August, 1889. 



STRIFE AND STORM. 223 

raged forward from the year 1884. At that time the 
faith of the Latter-day Saints permitted the practice 
of plural marriage, commonly called polygamy, and 
many families had been formed under that permission. 
Those who had entered into such relations were a 
small minority in the Church, but they were very in- 
fluential and very sincere. As early as 1862 Congress 
had enacted a law against plural marriage, but little or 
no effort had been made to enforce it, nor was its en- 
forcement an easy task in the face of a prevailing pub- 
lic sentiment. Many looked upon the law as unconsti- 
tutional, and Congress, from 1873 to 1882, allowed a 
polygamist to sit in the House of Representatives, as 
Delegate from the Territory of Utah. 

In 1879 the Supreme Court of the United States de- 
cided the Anti-Polygamy Law to be constitutional, 
and the sentiment against the practice then be- 
came so intense that Congress enacted other laws up- 
on the subject. In March, 1882, came the Edmunds 
Act, under which Delegate Cannon was denied his 
seat in the House of Representatives, and this was 
followed (March, 1887) by the Edmunds-Tucker 
Law, which confiscated the public property of the 
Latter-day Saints. Under these two statutes those 
who lived in plural marriage were prosecuted with 
great rigor. The Federal courts were kept busy try- 
ing cases under the Edmunds Law, and the prisons 
were crowded with those convicted under its provis- 
ions. It was a time of terror and gloom. The end 
came at last, and none were more thankful for it than 
those who had conducted the prosecution — those 



224 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



who had created the storm in order that a change of 
conditions might follow which they deemed for the 
best good of all. 

The Federal officers most prominent during the 
fore part of that period were Governor Eli H. Murray, 
Chief Justice Charles S. Zane, and United States At- 
torney A\' illiam H. Dickson. Governor Murray's an- 
tecedents have been giv- 
en. Judge Zane was a 
native of New Jersey, 
but had practiced law in 
Illinois, and was Judge 
of the Circuit Court of 
that State when Presi- 
dent Arthur appointed 
him to succeed Chief 
lustice Hunter in Utah 
(July, 1884). Mr. Dick- 
son was a Canadian by 
birth, but from 1874 to 
1882 had been a resident 
of Nevada. Having 
. aken up his residence 
at Salt Lake City, early 
in 1884 he succeeded 
Philip T. Van Zile as 
United States Attorney 
for this Territory. He chose as his assistant in that 
office his law partner, Charles S. Varian. The Unit- 
ed States Marshal was Edwin A. Ireland. 

Governor Murray Retires. The first of these offi- 
cers to retire was Governor Murray. He had contin- 
ued in office longer than any of his predecessors ex- 




JuDGE Zane. 



STRIFE AND STORM. 225 

cept Brighani Vouiig. Not even a change in the Na- 
tional .Vdministration — usually the signal for many re- 
movals — displaced him. He was very popular with 
the Liberals, and they used all their influence in his 
favor. President Cleveland, who assumed the reins of 
power in March, 1885, was very deliberate in making 
official changes, being wedded to the policy of ''Civil 
Service Reform." So long as persons in Federal posi- 
tions faithfully discharged their duties and were not 
"offensive partisans," he allowed them to retain their 
places, regardless of their political opinions. It was 
more than a year after his inauguration when the 
President removed Governor Murray. 

A disagreement had arisen between the Governor 
and the Legislature during the session of 1882, over 
the appointment of certain Territorial officers. Basing 
his claim on a clause in the Organic Act, Governor 
Murray contended that it was his right to appoint the 
Treasurer and the Auditor, "by and with the advice 
and consent of the Legislative Council." The Legis- 
lature maintained that those officers should be elected 
by the people, a law to that effect having been enacted 
in 1878. The Governor was right in his contention — 
the Supreme Court of the United States so de- 
cided — but in resenting the denial of his right he made 
so free a use of the veto power that he fell under the 
displeasure of the Administration at Washington. In 
1882 he vetoed a bill appropriating forty thousand 
dollars to the University of Deseret, which seemed 
about to collapse in consequence, when several 
wealthy citizens came to the rescue l)y advancing 
means to complete the University buildings on Union 

15 • 



226 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Square. On the eleventh of March, 1886, the Govern- 
or vetoed the General Appropriation Bill. This act 
cost him his place. Five days later the President, 
through Secretary Lamar, requested him to resign. 
Governor West Arrives. The next Governor of 

Utah was Caleb W. 
A\'est. Like his prede- 
cessor he was from Ken- 
tucky, but, unlike Mur- 
ray, had fought on the 
Confederate side during 
the war. Murray was a 
Republican, while West 
w as a Democrat, owing 
his appointment to a 
Democratic Administra- 
tion, the first that had 
^lesided over the Nation 
since the time of Presi- 
dent Buchanan. Govern- 
or West arrived at Salt 
Lake City on the fifth of 
May, and was w^elcomed 
by all classes of citizens. 




Caleb W. West, 

Thirteenth Governor of the- Terri- 
tory of Utah, from 1886 to 1889, 
and from 1893 to 1895. 



Delegations went out to 
meet him and escort him 
to the capital. On the 

evening of the seventh the Salt Lake Theatre was the 

scene of a brilliant reception, tendered to the new 

Executive by the city authorities. 

Other Changes. Marshal L-eland went out of office 

in Tune, 1886. His successor was Frank H. Dyer, of 



STRIFE AND STORIM 



227 



Mississippi, who liacl resided for several years in Utah. 
Mr. Dickson retained the United States Attorneyship 
until April, 1887, when he w^as succeeded by George S. 
Peters, of Ohio. Judge Zane retired in July, 1888, his 
place being filled by Judge Elliot Sandford, of New 
York. At the same time a fourth Federal Judge was 
given to Utah in the person of John AW Judd, of Ten- 
nessee. 




The Dr. \Yu. H. Groves Latter-day Saints Hospital, 
Salt Lake City. 



228 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



18. Rifts in the Cloud. 

1886—1890. 

Better Days at Hand. Toward the close of the de- 
cade of the ''eighties," a series of events indicated a 
turn in the tide. Changes took place that foretold a 
happier era, and on both sides of the local conflict a 
kindlier and more liberal feeling was manifest. 

An Offer of Amnesty. The first official act of Gov- 
ernor West was to visit the Utah Penitentiary and 




Utah Penitentiary (now State Prison.) 



RIFTS IN THE CLOUD. 229 

offer a pardon to all the prisoners confined there who 
had been convicted under the Edmunds Act, on con- 
dition that they would ''obey the law as interpreted 
by the courts."* This meant that they must separate 
from their plural families. Those prisoners then num- 
bered about fifty, and included Lorenzo Snow, one of 
the most prominent men in the community. While 
touched by the Governor's kind and well-meant offer, 
they informed him that what he proposed involved, 
from their point of view, the sacrifice of a religious 
conviction, and that they could not conscientiously 
do as he desired. 

The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. The next 
overture for peace came from the conservative busi- 
ness men of Salt Lake City, who, weary of the wrang- 
ling of the politicians, and desirous of putting an end 
to the strife that was paralyzing trade Rud driving 
away prosperity, came forward with a movement 
which they hoped would pour oil upon the troubled 
w^aters and help to solve the vexed social and politi- 
cal problem. Governor West was prominent in the 
movement, the purpose of which was to revive com- 
merce, establish home industries, and attract capital 
and population. As a result the Salt Lake Chamber 
of Commerce came into existence (May, 1887). Its 
president was William S. McCornick, and among its 
leading members were Samuel P. Teasdel, Henry W. 
Lawrence, Horace S. Eldredge, Joseph R. Walker, 
Henry Dinwoody, Fred H. Auerbach, Elias Morris, 



*The Utah Penitentiary (now State Prison) is situated on the 
foothills below the mouth of Emigration Canyon, about four miles 
southeast of Salt Lake Citv, 



230 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

W. H. Bancroft, George A. Lowe, Heber J. Grant, T. 
R. Jones, and O. J. Salisbury.* 

The Seventh Effort for Statehood. On the thir- 
tieth of June, 1887, a Constitutional Convention as- 
sembled at Salt Lake City and took the necessary 
steps toward applying again for admission into the 
Union. It was a People's Party movement, the Lib- 
erals having declined an invitation to participate. The 
Liberal Party was not in favor of Statehood under 
existing conditions, and had organized "The Loyal 
League," one purpose of which was to oppose the ad- 
mission of Utah. The labors of the delegates were 
futile. It was the last failure, however: the next en- 
deavor in that direction was destined to succeed. 

Liberals in the Legislature. The Utah Legislature 
convened in its twenty-eighth session at the City Hall, 
Salt Lake City, early in January, 1888. Five Liberals 
had been elected to this Assembly, namely, Thomas 
Marshall, John M. Young, and Enos D. Hoge, of Sa't 
Lake City; D. C. McLaughlin, of Park City; and Clar- 
ence E. Allen, of Bingham. Messrs. Marshall and 
Young were in the Council and the three others in the 

*Tn June, 1888. the Chamber of Commerce sent out an Exposi- 
tion Car to advertise Salt Lake City in the great centers of trade. 
A fund was raised among business men and other citizens, and a 
car, lent by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, having been ele- 
gantly furnished and fitted up with a fine exhibit of native products, 
was sent touring through the principal cities of the East. The 
Exposition Car was in charge of H. L. A. Culmer, editor of the 
Salt Lake Journal of Commerce. It left Salt Lake City on the 
sixth of June, and in three months traveled about nine thousand 
miles, opened in sixty cities, and was \isite(l by nearly two hun- 
dred thousand people. About fourteen Ions of ]:>rinted matter were 
distributed, and information on Utah was spread far and wide. The 
cost of the trip was a little over three thousand dollars. 



RIFTS IN THE CLOUD. 



231 



House. With the exception of Mr. McLaughlin, who 
had sat in the previous Legislature, these were the 
first Liberals ever numbered with the law-makers of 
Utah. Among the important measures enacted dur- 
ing the session were those providing for the Reform 
School and the Agricultural College ; the former at 
Ogden, the latter at Logan. To establish these insti- 
tutions and support others already in existence — such 
as the Insane Asylum, opened at Provo in 1885 — Utah 
was bonded for one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars. This was the first bonded debt assumed by the 
Territory. 

Liberals in the Salt Lake City Council. Just before 
tlie Sa't Lake City election in February, 1888, it was 
decided by the leaders of the People's Party — who 




Reform School (now Industrial School). 



232 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



were well aware of their ability to carry the town — to 
tender to their political opponents four places upon 
the ticket to be elected. The proposition, though op- 
posed by many Liberals, was accepted by some of 
their most prominent men, and was sanctioned by a 
two-thirds vote of the Chamber of Commerce. The 
four names placed upon the ticket were William S. 
McCornick, John E. Dooly, M. B. Sowles, and Bolivar 
Roberts ; the first-named gentleman for Alderman, 
and the other three for Councilors. The ticket was 




Insane Asylum (now Mental Hospital). 

elected by a majority of 860, out of a total vote of 
2,714. 

A Land- Jumping Scheme. On the day of this elec- 
tion (February 13) an attempt was made to seize up- 
on some of the public lands belonging to Salt Lake 
City. These lands, with those occupied by the citi- 
zens, had been entered under the Congressional 
Townsite Act, and the Government patent had been 
issued to the Mayor in 1872. The Legislature, un- 



RIFTS IN THE CLOUD.' 233 

der the authority conferred by Congress, had decided 
that the old settlers were entitled to the lands they oc- 
cupied by paying the original costs, including expense 
of survey; but the unoccupied lands were still to be 
held in trust by the Mayor for the common use and 
benefit of the citizens. The city having failed to dis- 
pose of these unoccupied lands, certain individuals 
thought they saw an opportunity to enrich themselves 
at the expense of the public. 

The person most prominent in the scheme was a 
real estate speculator from Colorado, who had been 
attracted to Utah by ''The Boom," a period of pros- 
perity that was beginning to be felt as the result of the 
labors of the new Chamber of Commerce. An- 
other would-be possessor of the public lands was a 
young man who had figured in the Federal courts as a 
stenographer. The Colorado man took possession of 
about thirty acres on Arsenal Hill, including the pres- 
ent Capitol Hill grounds. The other contented him- 
self with the Tenth Ward Square. 

For two days men were at work, surveying tracts 
from Arsenal Hill northeast to the vicinity of Ensign 
Peak, and fencing the land with posts and wires. The 
City Marshal warned them to stop, but they went on 
fencing, putting up tents, and building shanties, until 
it looked as if a small town had sprung up on the brow 
of the hill overlooking Salt Lake Valley. 

The city authorities took the matter coolly, and at 
first thought no further immediate action on their 
part necessary; but it was afterwards decided to eject 
the land-jumpers, and not give them the advantage of 
being in actual possession of the property when the 



234 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

case came into court. Some of the attorneys consulted 
were not in favor of this action, but Joseph L. Raw- 
lins strongly urged it. His advice was taken, and 
Mayor Francis Armstrong was authorized by the City 
Council to put it into effect. 

Ousting the Trespassers. Organizing a posse of 
sixty men — regular and special police — the Mayor, on 
the morning of the sixteenth of February, proceeded 
to the camps on Arsenal Hill. Reaching the first 
camp, he ordered all the occupants to vacate the 
premises. The leader among them replied that he 
would obey a process of court, which meant that 
he would not obey the mandate of the Mayor. That 
officer did not argue the point. ''Throw them off," he 
commanded, and the order was at once executed. 
"Down with those tents and over the fence with 
them!" Dow^n the tents came, and over the fence 
they went. A guard was set, and the posse then went 
on to the next camp. There the man in charge also 
refused to leave. In a moment two stalwart police- 
men had him by the arms and he was flying down the 
hill at a rapid rate. The land was cleared, shanties 
demolished, and all the equipment thrown or carried 
into the road. From point to point the posse moved, 
and the work of ejectment continued until the offi- 
cers had fully carried out their instructions. 

Leaving a force to guard the hill, the Mayor sent 
twenty of his posse to the Tenth Ward Square, 
where a notice had been posted, reading, "This Land 
for Sale — Inquire AA^ithin." Two men who were plow- 
ing beat a hasty retreat on catching sight of the offi- 
cers, who tore down the notice, dropped the plow out- 



RIFTS IN THE CLOUD. 



235 



side the field, and set men to guard the grounds. 
Washington Square, where now stands the Salt Lake 
City and County Building,* was seized about the same 
time, and Liberty Park and other properties were also 
threatened ; but the summary proceedings on Arsenal 




The Salt Lake City and County Building. 

Hill and at the Tenth Ward Square put a stop to fur- 
ther land-jumping. 

Law and Order Sustained. Mayor Armstrong 
and his men had been placed under arrest, charged 



*The Salt Lake City and County Building, which superseded the 
old City Hall (now Police Headquarters) and the old County Court 
House, (which stood on the corner near the present County Jail) 
was erected between March, 1891, and Deccmher, 1894. 



236 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



with committing a trespass. They had a hearing 
before United States Commissioner A. G. Norrell, 
who decided that they were not guilty. Subse- 
quently Chief Justice Zane, in the Third District 
Court, rendered a decision as to the rightful own- 
ership of the lands. His decision was in favor 
of the city, but he held that the municipal au- 
thorities should dispose of the unsettled lands, as con- 
templated by the Legislature, and not hold them for 
generations and prevent occupancy. The failure on 
their part to act promptly, however, did not give in- 
dividuals the right to seize upon the public property. 
The decision of the Chief Justice gave general satis- 
faction. 

Gift and Sale of Lands. Soon afterward Salt Lake 
City gave to the Territory that portion of Arsenal Hill 
now known as Capitol Hill, as a site for State Capitol 
buildings; also the Tenth Ward Square, to be used for 
permanent Fair Grounds. Appropriations ior the im- 
provement of both properties were made by the Legis- 
lature before its adjournment. Most of the unoccu- 
pied lands of Salt Lake City were sold at auction with- 
in the next two years, and the proceeds turned into 
the City Treasury. 

Three Candidates for Congress. The November 
election of 1888 saw three candidates in the field for 
Delegate toJI^ongress, namely, John T. Caine, renom- 
inated by the People's Party; Rcbi rt N. Baskin, the 
nominee of the Liberal Party; and Samuel R. Thur- 
man, representing the Democratic Party of the Ter- 
ritory of Utah, surnamed "The Sagebrush Democ- 
racy." Mr. Caine was chosen by a large majority. 



RIFTS IN THE CLOUD. 



237 



This election took place at the same time with the 
great national contest that restored to power the Re- 
publican Party, with Benjamin Harrison as President 
of the United States. 

Removals and Appointments. Within six months 
after his inauguration (March 4, 1889) President Har- 
rison removed most of the Democrats holding Fed- 
eral offices in Utah, and filled the places with Repub- 
lican appointees. Governor West was succeeded by 
Governor Arthur L. 
Thomas, who had been 
Secretary of the Terri- 
tory under two Govern- 
ors — Emery and Mur- 
ray — and afterwards a 
member of the Utah 
Commission.* Elijah 
Sells succeeded William 
C. Hall as Secretary. 
Chief Justice Sandford 
was removed, and Chief 
Justice Zane re-appoint- 
ed. Judge Judd resigned 
of his own accord. 

Liberal Victories. The 
Liberal Party was grad- 
ually gaining ground. In 
February, 1899, it elect- 
ed the city government 
of Ogden, with Fred 




Arthur L. Thomas, 
Fourteenth Governor of the Terri- 
tory of Utah, from 1889 to 1893. 

J. Kiesel as Mayor. In 



*Arthur L. Thomas, a native of Chicago, Illinois, had been an of- 
ficer of the House of Representatives at Washington before com- 
ing to Utah. 



238 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



August of that 



}ear it sent eight members to 
the Legislature, and — what was still more import- 
ant — cast a majority of forty-one votes at Salt Lake 
City. Great was the jubilation among the Liberals 
when this fact became known, for it meant that they 
would carry the capital in the following February. 

At the head of the Liberal organization at Salt Lake 
City stood Judge O. W. Powers, one of the ablest po- 
litical generals in the 
West. Franklin S. Rich- 
ards, a prominent law- 
yer, was chairman of the 
municipal committee of 
the People's Party. Dur- 
ing the autumn and win- 
ter months the utmost 
activity w^as shown by 
both organizations. Po- 
litical clubs were formed, 
the principles of civil 
government were dis- 
cussed, torchlight pro- 
cessions paraded the 
streets, and indoor and 
outdoor orators fired the 
hearts of the multitude. 




Judge Powers. 



The greatest interest and enthusiasm were awakened. 
Utah had never seen anything like it. Election day 
was Monday, the tenth of February. The Lib- 
erals carried all — or nearly all — before them, the Peo- 
ple winning only in the Third and Fourth Precincts. 
The Mayor-elect, George M. Scott, had a majority of 



RtFTS IN THE CLOUD. 239 

about eight huiulred votes over Spencer Clawsoii, the 
candidate of the People. 

At the Salt Lake City School election in the follow- 
ing July, the Liberals carried four of the live precincts 
and elected a majority of the Board of Education.* In 
August they chose most of the officers of Salt Lake 
County; the People and the Independent Working- 
men, with a fusion ticket, electing the Recorder, the 
SherifT, and the Treasurer. 

A Final Political Battle. Only once more were 
the forces of the People's Party and those of the Lib- 
eral Party arrayed against each other in a political 
campaign. It was in November, 1890, at the regular 
election of Delegate to Congress. The People, for 
their nominee, put forward the sitting Delegate, John 
T. Caine. The Liberals chose as their standard-bearer, 
Judge C. C. Goodwin, the editor-in-chief of the Salt 
Lake Tribune. Mr. Caine was re-elected. 

Disfranchisement Proposed. The Edmunds Law 
had disfranchised all who lived in violation of its pro- 
visions ; they could neither hold office nor vote. The 
Edmunds-Tucker Act had taken the suffrage from the 
women of Utah. Now it was proposed to disfranchise 
every person who maintained the rightfulness of the 
form of marriage which those laws condemned. Meas- 
ures to that end — the Cullom and Struble bills — were 
introduced into Congress. 



*The Legislature, in March, 1890. had enacted a law consolidating 
into one school district every cit}^ of the first or the second class. 
Salt Lake City, the only city of the first class, then consisted of 
twenty-two school districts, each controlled by its own school board. 
The same law established a uniform system of free schools through- 
out Utah. 



240 THE M/VKING OF A STATE. 

The Manifesto. Such was the situation when, in 
September, 1890, A\'ilforcl Woodruff, President of the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, issued 
''The Manifesto." The Supreme Court of the United 
States had declared the Edmunds Law and the 
Edmunds-Tucker Law constitutional, and President 
Woodruff now^ advised all concerned to refrain from 
contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the 
land. The Manifesto was ratified by the vote of the 1 

General Conference of the Church, early in the fol- 
lowing October. 

This w^as an important event, and great changes re- 
sulted from it. One cause of the incessant strife 
in Utah — one main obstacle to the admission of the 
Territory into the Union as a State, w^as at length re- 
moved. The Cullom and Strub^e bills failed to pass. 
The President of the United States pardoned all who 
had broken the Edmunds Law\ and by Act of Con- 
gress the confiscated church property Avas returned. 



PREPARING FOR STATEHOOD. 241 



19. Preparing for Statehood. 

1890—1895. 

The National Parties in Utah. The time now 
seemed propitious for the formation in Utah of the 
Democratic and the RepubHcan parties — the national 
pohtical organizations. Since 1872, when General 
Grant and Horace Greeley were rival candidates for 
the Presidency, these parties had maintained a shad- 
owy sort of existence in the Territory, but beyond the 
holding of an occasional convention and the sending 
of delegates to the great national gatherings, little 
had been done by them.* Most of the citizens, while 
Republicans or Democrats by tradition or from princi- 
ple, were arrayed against each other on strictly local 
lines, and general politics were ignored. 

The triumph of the National Democracy in 1884, 
when Grover Cleveland was first elected President, 
caused a wave of enthusiasm to roll over Utah, most 
of her inhabitants then being Democratic in their 
sympathies. A Democratic club was organized and 
a Democratic paper started at the capital, but this 



*In April, 1872, the Territorial Republican Convention chose as 
delegates to the National Republican Convention, Thomas Fitch and 
Frank Fuller ; while the Territorial Democratic Convention selected 
as delegates to the National Democratic Convention, Thomas P. 
Akers and E. M. Earnum. Similar action was taken every four 
years, at the beginning of each Presidential campaign. 



242 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

effort soon spent its force. In October, 1888, the 
''Sagebrush Democracy," previously mentioned, 
launched its vigorous but short-lived movement. The 
People's Party and the Liberal Party kept up the local 
strife, the latter gradually gaining headway in a few 
towns and counties, and the former, whenever the 
fight was Territorial, continuing to sweep away all 
opposition. Now, however, a great change had come, 
and it was felt on both sides that these parties should 
disband, as they had fulfilled their mission and were in 
the way of further progress. 

Democrats and Republicans. This feeling, even be- 
fore the issuance of the Manifesto, had led to the or- 
ganization of a Democratic club, which held its first 
meeting in June, 1890, at the office of United States 
Marshal Dyer. There the subject of disbanding the old 
parties and organizing new ones was discussed and a 
committee appointed to further agitate the question. 
The labors of that committee resulted in the organiza- 
tion, during February and the spring and summer of 
1891, of the Democratic Party of Utah. In May of that 
year the Republican Party of Utah came into existence, 
the meeting at which it was organized having been 
held in the Salt Lake Theatre. On the tenth of June 
the Territorial Committe of the People's Party adopted 
a resolution to dissolve that organization, and "leave its 
members free to unite with the great national parties 
according to individual preference." The dissolution 
took place accordingly. The Republicans were fewer 
than the Democrats at that time, owing to the fact 
that many who cherished Republican principles held 
aloof from politics at the beginning, while others were 



PREPARING FOR STATEHOOD. 243 

in the Liberal Party, which had not yet decided to dis- 
Ijand. When, in November, 1893, that organization 
(Hssolved, most of its members entered the Repub- 
lican fold, while the remainder reinforced the ranks of 
the Democracy. 

President Harrison. An impetus was given to the 
Republican cause by the visit of President Benjamin 
Harrison, who, on his return from California and the 
Northwest, after making a tour of the Nation, spent 
one day at the chief town of the Territory (May 9, 
1891). He and his party were met at Pocatello, Idaho, 
by Governor Thomas, Delegate Caine, Colonel Ferry 
and other representative citizens, who welcomed the 
Chief Magistrate and escorted him to Utah. He was ac- 
companied by Mrs. Harrison, by Postmaster-General 
Wanamaker, by Secretary Rusk, and other persons 
of prominence. The President's train reached Salt 
Lake City — which was in gala attire — at four o'clock 
in the morning. After breakfast and an informal re- 
ception at the Walker House, where Governor Thom- 
as, in behalf of the people, presented the President 
with a silver tray made from metal taken from the 
Ontario Mine, an immense procession conveyed the 
distinguished visitors through the crowded and ban- 
nered streets to Liberty Park. There a program of 
speeches and music was rendered, President Harrison, 
Secretary Rusk, and Postmaster-General W^anamaker 
all uttering words of encouragement and good cheer 
to the people who listened to them. Afterwards 
the President attended the opening of the new Cham- 
ber of Commerce Building, and then drove to the 



244 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Denver and Rio Grande depot and took train for the 
East.* 

State and National Conventions. The State Con- 
ventions of the new^ly organized political parties sent 
strong delegations to the National Conventions in 
1892. John T. Caine and Judge Henry P. Henderson 
sat in the Democratic Convention at Chicago, v^here 
President Cleveland was nominated for his second 
term. The Democratic Liberals, having organized 
'The Tuscarora Society," also sent delegates — Judge 
Powers and Mayor Kiesel — but the Convention did 
not admit them.t O. T- Salisbury and Frank J. 



*A most pleasing incident occurred while the President was on 
his way to Liberty Park. When the great procession, passing up 
South Temple Street, arrived opposite B Street, a vision of beauty 
burst upon the view. Covering the hillside — filling the gently 
sloping street for the space of more than a block, stood a host of 
school children, six to eight thousand in number, all tastefully 
dressed, each one waving an American flag and cheering the Presi- 
dent of the United States. The procession halted, and the Presi- 
dent stood with uncovered head while the little ones sang "America" 
and "The Star Spangled Banner," keeping time for themselves with 
their tiny flags. Tn a voice tremulous with emotion. President Har- 
rison thus addressed them: "Children, in all our pleasant journey- 
ings through the sunny south — the land of flowers — and amidst the 
joyous greetings of loyal people throughout our free and venerated 
country, we have witnessed nothing so extremely lovely as this in- 
spiring and unexpected sight. Such perfect arrangement, such beau- 
tiful singing, such concerted action, of an almost numberless mul- 
titude of children, waving a forest of banners, emblematical of inde- 
pendence and liberty, present a picture and ofi^er a welcome that the 
lapse of time will not erase from our memories. You, children from 
the schools established and guarded by your public authorities, are 
fitting yourselves for usefulness, citizenship and patriotism, (The 
President was here interrupted by three hearty cheers from the chil- 
dren) and in you lies the hope of Utah and the glory of our coun- 
try. In conclusion I thank you for this feeling demonstration, and 
invoke the choicest l)lcssings of a l)cnericent country and a still more 
beneficent Creator upon you." 

tjudge Powers, like Judge Henderson, had been an Associate 
Justice of ITtah. I'nth were from the State of Michigan. 



PREPARING FOR STATEHOOD. 



245 



Cannon had seats in tlie Republican Convention at 
Minneapolis, which also admitted C. C. Goodwin and 
C. E. Allen, who represented the Republican wing of 
the Liberal Party. 

A Democratic Delegate. In the autumn of that 
year, for Delegate to Congress, the Democrats nom- 
inated Joseph L. Raw- 
lins, the Republicans, 
Frank J. Cannon, and the 
Liberals, Clarence E. 
Allen. A rousing cam- 
paign throughout the 
Territory ended with a 
debate between the 
Democratic and the Re- 
publican candidates at 
the Salt Lake Theatre, 
on the evening of the 
seventh of November, 
and next day the issue 
was decided at the polls. 
Mr. Rawlins was elected 
by a plurality of nearly 
three thousand. He 
took his seat in the 
House of Representa- 
tives at the opening of the extra session of the Fifty- 
third Congress. 

Presidential Appointments. President Cleveland 
re-appointed Caleb W. West Governor of Utah (April, 
the following month Charles C. 




Joseph L. Rawlins. 



1893), and durini 



246 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Jvicliards was made Secretary. Mr. Richards was a 
native of Utah and a resident of Ogden, and had been 
active in organizing the Democratic Party. About the 
same time Harvey W. Smith became an Associate 
Justice, and Nat M. Brigham United States Marshal 
for the Territory. 




The Utah Building at the World's Fair. 



The Columbian Exposition. Three commissioners 
had been appointed by Governor Thomas to look after 
the interests of Utah at the AX'orld's Fair (Chicago, 
1892-1893). These commissioners were Nelson A. 
Empey, Richard Mcintosh and Robert C. Chambers. 
As the result of their labors and the assistance ren- 
dered by others, the Utah Building was erected and a 
creditable exhi1)it, representing the resources and at- 



PREPARING FOR STATEHOOD. 247 

tractions of this region, nuiintaincd thronghout the 
continuance of the exposition/'' Utah Day at the 
Fair was the ninth of September, 1893 — the forty- 
third anniversary of the organization of the Territory. 
Governor West, President Woodruff, and other lead- 
ing citizens were present. In the great choral contest 
at Chicago, the Tabernacle Choir of Salt Lake City 
won the second prize. 




A Utah Militia Encampment. 

The National Guard of Utah. By an Act of the 

Legislative Assembly (March 8, 1894) the Governor 
was authorized to enroll the National Guard of Utah, 
to consist of not more than three regiments of infant- 
ry, two regiments of cavalry, and two batteries of 
light artillery. By October, fourteen companies of 
infantry, three troops of cavalry, and two batteries of 
light artillery had been enlisted. During the many 



*Utah also had two of the National Commissioners of the World's 
Fair — P. H. Lannan and F. J. Kiesel. 



248 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

years that the Territory had been without a militia 
organization, a credit of about eighty thousand 
dollars had accumulated under the Act of Con- 
gress which makes an annual appropriation for the 
National Guard. Of that amount seventy-two thou- 
sand dollars was now expended for uniforms and 
equipment. The infantry companies were armed 
with Springfield rifles, the cavalry with sabers and car- 
bines, and the batteries with eight steel cannon and 
two Gatling guns. The counties of Cache, Box Elder, 
Weber, Morgan, Davis, Tooele, Utah, Sanpete, Se- 
vier, Garfield and Salt Lake were represented in this 
original enlistment.* 

The Industrial Army. The organization of the 
Guard had scarcely begun when one of the ''indus- 
trial armies" of that period passed through the Ter- 
ritory. Twelve hundred men, organized by "General" 
Ivelley in California, unarmed, and without money, 
supplies, or means of subsistence, had been loaded in- 
to freight cars of the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany, and brought at the low rate of fifty cents each 
as far as Ogden. Thence they were to make their 
w'ay, as best they could, to Washington, D. C, there 
to join other similar bodies in demanding of Congress 
laws for the relief of the working classes. t Governor 

*When the Territory became a State the Constitution provided for 
the organization, equipment and discipline of the National Guard of 
Utah. All able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty- 
five, with the usual exceptions, were made liable to militar}- duty. 

tPresident C. P. Huntington, of the Southern Pacific Railroad, 
disclaimed any intent on the part of his company to send vagrants 
to Utah. Kelley and his companions, it was claimed, had been carried 
in course of business, and were on their way east to better their 
condition as workingmen. 



PREPARING FOR STATEHOOD. 249 

West, rnKliiig that no pru\ isiuu had been made for 
transporting the men eastward, and fearing that they 
would remain in Utah and become a public charge, 
called out the militia and put the "army" under guard. 
The Governor acted with the authorities of Ogden 
City and Weber County, to whom Mayor Baskin, of 
Salt Lake City, also tendered the services of thirty 
men commanded by the Chief of Police. Orders of 
court were obtained from Chief Justice Samuel A. 
Merritt and Associate Justice James A. Miner, to pre- 
vent the strangers from remaining in Utah, or from 
leaving the Ogden depot grounds until arrangements 
could be made for their transportation. The result 
was that Kelley and his followers, after being fed and 
supplied with money, were marched out of Ogden, 
guarded by the militia, and, on the twelfth of April, at 
Uintah, they boarded an empty train of Union Pacific 
cars and were carried out of the Territory.* 

Home Rule and Statehood. Meantime Congress 
had been wrestling with the dual problem of Home 
Rule and Statehood for Utah. A Democratic bill for 
Home Rule, and a Republican bill proposing State- 
hood, had been introduced in the Senate and in the 
House of Representatives early in 1892, but both had 



*In May, a like "army" of three or four hundred men, organized 
in Utah by "General" Carter, took possession of a Union Pacitic 
train at Lehi, and ran it upon the track of the Denver and Rio 
Grande Western as far as Provo, where it was derailed. It was 
still held by the "industrials," however, who refused to surrender 
it to the officers of the road. This caused further intervention by 
the Governor and the miHtia, and the arrest and imprisonment of 
Carter and some of his men. The remainder, in small bodies, rid- 
ing upon freight trains, finally reached Colorado, where the "army" 
disbanded. 



250 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



failed to pass. J3eleg"ate Rawlins, on the sixth of Sep- 
tember, 1893, presented a bill for the admission of 
Utah into the Union. This bill passed the House on 
the thirteenth of December, practically without oppo- 
silfon. The Senate also passed it, and it was signed 
bv President Cleveland on the sixteenth of July, 1894. 

The Enabling Act. 
That law was entitled 
"An Act to Enable the 
People of Utah to form 
a Constitution and State 
Government, and to be 
admitted into the Union 
on an equal footing with 
the original States." It 
authorized the holding 
of a Constitutional Con- 
vention, to be composed 
of one hundred and sev- 
en delegates, who were 
to meet at the capital of 
the Territory on the first 
Monday in March, 1895, 
and frame the funda- 
\ ental law of the pro- 
posed State.* 
The members of the Con- 




Frank J. Cannon 



A Republican Victory. 



*These delegates were apportioned among the several counties 
as follows : Beaver, 2 ; Box Elder, 4 ; Cache, 8 ; Davis, 3 ; Emery. 3 ; 
Garfield, 1 ; Grand, 1 ; Iron, 1 ; Juab, 3 ; Kane, 1 ; Millard, 2 ; Mor- 
gan, 1; Piute, 1; Rich, 1; Salt Lake, 29; San Juan, 1; Sanpete, 7; 
Sevier, 3; Summit, 4; Tooele, 2; Uintah, 1; Utah, 12; Wasatch, 2; 
Washington, 2; Wavnc, 1; Weber, 11. Total, 107. 



Jl 



PREPARING FOR STATEHOOD. 



251 



stitntional Convention were chosen in November, 
1894. At the same time a Delegate to Congress was 
elected to succeed Mr. Rawlins, whose term was about 
to expire. Again he had been made the candidate of 
his party, and again the Republicans had put forward 
Frank J. Cannon, whom Rawlins liad defeated two 
years before. That result was now reversed : Cannon 
defeated Rawlins, and the Republicans also elected 
most of the delegates to -the Constitutional Conven- 
tion. 

The Constitutional 
Convention. The Dele- 
gates assembled at the 
time and place appoint- 
ed, and organized with 
John Henry Smith as 
President. The meet- 
ings were held in the 
House of Representa- 
tives, on the fourth floor 
of the Salt Lake City 
and County Building. 
The Convention was in 
session sixty-six days — 
from the fourth of 
March to the eighth of 
May — and the result of 
its labors was the Con- 
stitution of the State of Utah. 

To the People of Utah. In an address to the people, 
submitting to them the document that had been 
framed, the Convention said: 'Tf with Statehood there 




John Henry Smith. 



252 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



will be a slight increase in taxes, the compensating ad- 
vantages will cause the increased expense to be for- 
gotten. We shall be able to utilize the magnificent 
gift of over seven million acres of land from our gen- 
erous government; we shall be able to secure capital 
for our mines; under the shield of Statehood thou- 
sands of people will seek homes in our climate, assist 

to develop our wondrous 
and varied resources, 
and rejoice in the mani- 
lold blessings bestowed 
by nature upon our 
highly favored common- 
wealth. When we re- 
flect that this instru- 
ment will secure to us in 
its highest sense local 
self-government, with 
State officers of our own 
selection, and Courts for 
the swift, capable and 
economical administra- 
tion of the laws by 
Judges of the people's 
choosing; that it will 
give us a school systCin 
abreast of the foremost in the Union, with 
power to utilize the lands donated to our edu- 
cational institutions;* o:ive us a voice in the election 




Clarence E Allen. 



*The public school system established under the State Constitution 
includes kindergarten schools, common schools (primary and gram- 



PREPARING FOR STATEHOOD. 253 

of Presidents, also two Senators and one Representa- 
tive to present the claims of our new State in the 
Congress of the Nation ; add the star of Utah to the 
hallowed ensign of the Republic; bestow upon us full 
sovereignty with all that this majestic term implies, 
and thus draw to us capital and population and invest 
us with a dignity that can never attach to a Territorial 
condition, with steadily swelling confidence we sub- 
mit this Constitution to the consideration of the peo- 
ple of Utah, in the certain belief that they will, by an 
overwhelming majority, endorse and ratify our work." 

The First State Election. The election for the ac- 
ceptance or rejection of the Constitution, and for the 
choosing of the first Congressional Representative 
and the first State officers, fell upon Tuesday, the fifth 
of November. Three tickets were in the field — Re- 
publican, Democratic, and Populist. The Republican 
ticket was victorious, as follows : 

Representative — Clarence E. AHen. 

Governor — Heber M. Wells. 

Justices of the Supreme Court — Charles S. Zane, 
George W. Bartch, James A. Miner. 

Secretary of State — James T. Hammond. 

Attorney-Genera! — A. C. Bishop. 

Treasurer — James Chipman. 

Auditor — Morgan Richards. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction — Dr. John R. 
Park. 



mar grades), high schools, an Agricultural College and a University, 
all supported by taxation, by proceeds from the sales of school lands 
within the State, and by revenues from other sources. 



254 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

District Judges — Charles H. Hart, Henry H. Ro- 
lapp, Ogden Hiles, John A. Street, Morris L. Ritchie, 
Ervin A. Wilson, Edward V. Higgins, William H. Mc- 
Carty, Jacob Johnson. 

The Republicans also elected a majority of the 
members of the Legislature. The Constitution was 
ratified by an immense vote of the people, and a copy 
of it, with the result of the election, certified to by the 
Utah Commission, was fprwarded to Washington. 



THE FORTY-FIFTH STATE. 



255 



20. The Forty-fifth State. 

1896—1897. 

The President's Proclamation. All was now ready 
for the proclamation by the President of the United 
States that Utah was admitted into the Union. Pres- 
ident Cleveland was to make this annonncement if it 
was found that the Con- 
stitution and the Gov- 
ernment of the proposed 
State were republican in 
form, and that all the 
provisions of the En- 
abling Act had been 
complied with. The an- 
nouncement was made 
on the fourth of January, 
1896, and was greeted 
throughout Utah w^ith 
joyful enthusiasm. At 
the capital, as soon as 
the news came, a gun 
was fired into the air in 
front of the Western 
Union Telegraph Ofhce, 
and this signal set bells 




President Clevela] 



ringing, whistles blowing, and guns firing, all 
town, in celebration of the event. 



over 



The day was bright 



256 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

and beautiful, and everybody felt happy and jubilant. 

The Inaugural Ceremonies. Two days later there 
was a great procession through the streets of Salt 
Lake City, followed by a public meeting at the Tab- 
ernacle, where the ceremonies of the inauguration 
took place. The spacious interior was draped with 
American flags, one of them probably the largest ever 
made. It was one hundred and fifty feet long and 
seventy-five feet wide. Hanging from the concave 
dome near the organ, it covered the entire space be- 
tween the galleries. . The forty-fifth star upon the 
banner was illuminated with electricity. High up be- 
tween the organ pipes the effigy of an American eagle 
hovered with outspread wings above the dates 1847 
and 1896, placed side by side, and below them blazed 
the word ''Utah" in electrical display. Flags and 
bunting radiated in all directions from the mammoth 
ensign to other parts of the auditorium. More than ten 
thousand people were present, and other thousands 
w^ere unable to gain admission. Upon the stand 
were many leading citizens, including the authorities 
of the Territory, military representatives, and the 
newly elected State officers. 

In the absence of Governor West, Secretary Rich- 
ards presided over the assemblage and conducted the 
ceremonies. They began precisely at half past twelve 
with a few preliminary remarks from Acting-Governor 
Richards, after which came music by the United States 
Sxteenth Infantry Band. Counselor George Q. Can- 
non, for President Wilford WoodrufT, who was in fee- 
ble health, offered the invocation. "The Star Span- 
gled Banner" was sung by a chorus of one thousand 



THE FORTY-FIFTH STiVTE. 



257 



children, all ^vaving■ tiny Hags while they kept time 
with the conductor's baton, which also displayed the 
Stars and Stripes. 

Following these preliminaries, came the reading of 
the proclamation admitting Utah into the Union. 
The reader was the Honorable Joseph L. Rawlins, 
who addressed to the Governor-elect, Heber M. 
Wells, these concluding words : "And now I have the 
honor to present to you 
— the first Governor of 
the new State of Utah — 
the pen wdiich was used 
by the President of the 
United States, ten min- 
utes before midnight on 
July 16, 1894, to sign the 
bill under which Utah 
has become a State. I 
present it to you in or- 
der that it may be pre- 
served among the arch- 
ives of the State of 
Utah." The pen was 
handed to the Governor 
amid the applause and 
cheers of the multi- 
tude. 

After music by the Denhalter Band, Governor 
Wells w^as formally introduced by Acting-Governor 
Richards, who, in behalf of the Federal Government, 
surrendered the executive offices and public affairs 




Heber J\I. Wells, 
First Governor of the State of 
Utah, from 1896 to 1905. 



17 



258 



THE MAKING OF A STATfi. 



of the Territory into the keeping of the State.* The 
oath of office was administered to Governor Wells 
and his associates by Chief Justice Zane, who had 
been previously sworn in. ''Utah, We Love Thee," 




Institution for the Deaf. Dumb and Blind. 



a song composed for the occasion by Evan Stephens, 
was rendered by the Tabernacle Choir — three hun- 
dred and fifty voices — led by Professor Stephens. Sec- 
retary of State James T. Hammond read a proclama- 



*The State adopted the public institutions founded by the Territory 
and located them permanently as follows : The Seat of Government 
and the State Fair, at Salt Lake City; the Penitentiary (State 
Prison), in Salt Lake County; the Insane Asyhuii (State Mental 
Hospital), at Provo, Utah County; the Reform School (State In- 
dustrial School) and Institutions for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, at 
Ogden, Weber County. 



THE FORTY-FIFTH STA TF. 259 

tion by the Governor, comening the Legislature in 
special session that afternoon, and Governor Wells 
then took the stand and delivered his inaugural ad- 
dress.* 

The Inaugural Address. The Governor began with 
a tribute to the Pioneers, congratulating them and 
all the citizens that Utah was now a State. He also 
congratulated the State and the Nation upon the 
event that had taken place, and proceeded to narrate 
the successive efforts for Statehood made by the 
founders of the commonwealth — the eighth effort be- 
ing successful. The fact that Chief Justice Zane had 
been chosen by the people to be the highest judicial 
officer, and himself the first executive officer of the new 
State, was cited as a proof that old wounds had been 
healed and oM animosities buried. The speaker re- 
counted the material wealth and resources of Utah, 
and incidentally advocated the construction of "sl 
railroad to the south and west of us."t He also 
called attention to the opening of the Uintah 
and Uncompahgre Indian reservations to white set- 
tlement and occupancy.! After a complimentary allu- 

*Heber M. Wells, the fifteenth Governor of Utah, and the first 
one to be elected by the people, was a son of General Daniel H. 
Wells, and was born at Salt Lake City, August 11, 1859. 

tA suggestion since embodied in the San Pedro, Los Angeles, 
and Salt Lake Railroad. 

IThese reservations comprised the greater part of Wasatch and 
Uintah counties, in Northeastern Utah. The Indians living there 
numbered about two thousand. Congress proposed to allow each 
head of a family 320 acres, and each member of the family 160 acres, 
counting five Indians to a family. It was estimated that 384,000 acres 
would supply the Indian demand, leaving more than three and a 
half million acres for white settlers. The reservations contained 
valuable grazing, farming, and mining lands. 



260 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



sion to woman suffrage, as among the blessings that 
had come with Statehood, the Governor closed with 
an exhortation to continued patriotism on the part of 
the people, and a portrayal of the glorious privileges of 
citizenship in a free and sovereign State. 

At the conclusion of the address the choir sang 
"America," and the Reverend T. C. Ilifif, of the Meth- 
odist Church, pronounced the benediction. To the 
strains of "Hail Columbia," by the Sixteenth Infan- 
try Band, the great throng filed out into the sunlight, 
and the proceedings of the inauguration passed into 
history. 

The First State Legislature. The first and special 

session of the Legisla- 
ture of the State of Utah 
convened at the City and 
County Building imme- 
diately after the inaug- 
ural ceremonies at the 
Tabernacle. George M. 
Cannon was chosen 
President of the Senate, 
and Presley Denney 
Speakei of the House. It 
devolved upon this Leg- 
islature to elect two 
United States Senators, 
and Frank J. Cannon 
and Arthur Brown were 
accordingly chosen by 
the Republican majority 
of the Joint Assembly, 




Arthur Brown. 



THE FORTY-FIFTH STATE. 



261 



the former for four years, and the latter for one year, 
according to the provisions of the Federal Constitu- 
tion. The time fixed for the first regular session of 
the Legislature to convene w^as Monday, the eleventh 
of January, 1897. Everything necessary was done to 
set in motion the ma- 
chinery of the State gov- 
ernment, and the allot- 
ted ninety days were 
more than consumed 
by these preliminary 
proceedings.* 

The Democracy Re- 
turns to Power. A 
change in the political 
complexion of the Leg- 
islature, from a Re- 
publican majority in 
1896 to a Democratic 
majority in 1897, was 
owing to a revulsion of 
feeling throughout the 
West over the attitude 
of the Republican Party 

on the Silver Question. In June, 1896, the 
National Republican Convention met at St. Louis to 
nominate a candidate for President. A plank having 
been prepared for the party platform repudiating bi- 




WiLLiAM H. King, 
In June, 1896, 



*The State Constitution provided that the first session of the Leg- 
islature might be for ninety days, but thereafter the sessions — held 
biennially — were not to exceed sixty days. 



262 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



metallism and favoring the single gold standard, the 
Utah delegates, Erank J. Cannon, Clarence E. Allen, 
and Thomas Kearns, with Henry M. Teller, of Col- 
orado, and Fred T. Dubois, of Idaho, walked out of 
the Convention, severing their relations with the 
Republican Party. Democracy now triumphed for 
a time. In Utah it elected not only a majority of 




Federal Building, Salt Lake City. 

the next Legislature, but also the next Representative 
— William H. King — who succeeded Mr. Allen. Dur- 
ing the winter of 1896-1897 the Joint Assembly was 
the scene of a spirited contest in the election of 
a United States Senator, to succeed Arthur Brown, 
whose term was about to expire. Day after 
day the legislators met and balloted, and at last Jos- 



THE FORTY-FIFTH STATE. 



263 



eph L. Rawlins was chosen. His main rival was Aloses 
Thatcher, also a Democrat, who lost the United 
States Senatorship by a close vote; the final ballot 
showing for Rawlins, thirty-two; for Thatcher, twenty- 
nine; scattering, two.* 

Federal Buildings and University Grounds. Sena- 
tor Rawlins took liis seat in the upper house of Con- 




Federal Building, Ogden. 

gress on the fourth of March, 1897. As a member of 
the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds he 
introduced a bill appropriating half a million dollars 
for the erection of a Federal Building at Salt Lake 



*The Senate had eighteen members, and the House of Representa- 
tives, forty-five. Nearly the entire vote of tlic Joint Assembly — 
sixtv-threc — was tlicrcforc (H\-i(Ic(l lietween Rawlins and Thatcher. 



264 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



City, and a bill appropriating two hundred thousand 
dollars for a similar building at Ogden. Both these 
bills became law, and the structures contemplated by 
them have since been erected. Senator Rawlins, while 
Delegate, had introduced a bill, which became law, 
granting to the University of Deseret a part of the 
Fort Douglas Military Reservation, as a site for the 
permanent home of that institution.* 

The Utah Pioneer Ju- 
bilee. Governor Wells, 
in his earliest messages 
to the Legislature (1896 
and 1897) recommend- 
ed the holding of an In- 
ter-mountain Fair, to 
commemorate the first 
half century of progress 
since the Pioneers en- 
tered Salt Lake Valley. 
Later, under authority 
given by the Legisla- 
ture, he appointed fif- 
teen Commissioners to 
conduct the celebration. 
It became known as the 
Utah Pioneer Jubilee, 
Spencer Clawson. and WES held at Salt 

Lake City in 1897, from the twentieth to the twenty- 
fourth of July, including both dates. 




*The first land grant made by Congress to the University of Utah 
(then University of Deseret) was in February, 1855. It consisted 
of two townships, equal to 46.080 acres, and was to be selected any- 
where within the Territory. The second grant was the one included 



THE FORTY-FIFTH STATE. 265 

The Utah Semi-Centennial Commission elected as 
its executive officers Spencer Clawson, Chairman; E. 
G. Rognon, Secretary; Mrs. George Y. Wallace, Treas- 
urer.* The fund to meet the expenses was provided 
by Legislative appropriation and by contributions 
from various sources. Sixty thousand dollars was re- 
alized, but this sum did not include donations of labor 
and material, amounting to five or six thousand dol- 
lars more. The Commissioners served without pay, 
the splendid success of the Jubilee being deemed by 
them an ample reward. An invitation to attend the 
celebration was sent to all the leading men of the 
Nation and of the various States and Territories. t 



in the Enabling Act of July 16, 1894. That was of 110,000 acres, to be 
selected anywhere within the State. In the winter of 1893-4 Con- 
gress donated sixty acres of land off the Fort Douglas Military Res- 
ervation, to be given to the University provided the site was occu- 
pied for its chief building within five years, from the date of the 
passage of the Act. In 1897 the time for the occupancy by the Uni- 
versity was extended to 1903. The Legislature, in February, 
1899, provided for the removal of the University from the old site 
to the new, and it was so occupied in the fall of 1900. The last 
grant of land to the University was made recently through a bill 
introduced by Senator Sutherland. 

*The other members of the Jubilee Commission were Edward F. 
Colborn, William B. Preston, Horace G. Whitney, Elias A. Smith, 
Jacob Moritz, William A. Nelden, H. H. Spencer, Reed Smoot, John 
D. Spencer, Miss Cora Hooper, Miss Emily Katz, and Mrs. R. C. 
Easton. The Commission appointed as its official aids, Director- 
General Brigham Young, Assistant-Director General H. F. Mc- 
Garvie, Grand Marshal Nat M. Brigham, Assistant Secretary L. C. 
Johnson, Historians Henry W. Naisbitt and Orson F. Whitney. 
Commissioners were appointed by the Governor to represent all the 
outside counties of the State. 

tOne of those who responded to the invitation and was present at 
the Jubilee was the Honorable William Jennings Bryan, who, as the 
Democratic candidate for President, in 1896, had been defeated by 
William McKinley, Republican. Mr. Bryan was accompanied by his 
wife, and they were numbered among the guests of honor. 



266 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Special Invitation to the President. A special invi- 
tation, sent by Governor Wells to President McKin- 
ley, v^as delivered at the White House in the City of 
Washington by a committee consisting of the Hon- 
orable George Q. Cannon, Justice George W. Bartch, 
Colonel P. H. Lannan, Senator Frank J. Cannon, Sen- 
ator Joseph L. Raw^lins, and Representative William 
H. King. The President was much pleased v^ith the 
invitation, and only the fact that Congress v^as in ses- 
sion and he could not absent himself from his post of 
duty, prevented him from accepting it. 

The Surviving Veterans. The surviving Pioneers 
and Emigrants of 1847 were all invited to attend the 
Jubilee as guests of the State, and those w^ho came 
were given free transportation from and to their 
homes. Seven hundred and twenty-seven responses 
were received, but fewer than half that number were 
ab^.e to attend. Twenty-eight of the original Pioneers 
were living at the time, and twenty-six were present at 
the celebration.* 

The Pioneer Monument. The first of the five days 
devoted to the Jubilee saw the unveiling of the Pio- 
neer Monument. The day was ushered in by the 
booming of cannon, a signal for the gathering of the 
veterans of 1847 on the Old Fort Square, and their 
march (318 in number) to the intersection of Main 

*The twenty-eight survivors were Wilford Woodruff, Aaron F. 
Farr, George W. Brown, Thomas P. Cloward, Lyman Curtis. Isaac 
P. Decker, Franklin B. Dewey, Ozro F. Eastman, Joseph Egbert, 
Green Flake, John S. Gleason, Stephen H. Goddard, Charles A. Har- 
per, Stephen Kelsey, Levi N. Kendall, Conrad Kleinman, John W. 
Norton, Charles Shumway, Andrew P. Shumway, William C A. 
Smoot, James W. Stewart. Norman Taylor, Horace Thornton, Wil- 
liam P. Vance, Hensen Walker, Sr., George Wardle, George Wood- 
ward, and Lorenzo S. Young. 



THE FORTY-FIFTH STATE. 267 

and South Temple streets, where, in the presence of 
an immense throng, shouting and waving welcome, 
the monument was unveiled by Wilford Woodruff, 
amid the roll of cheers and the roar of artillery.* 

The Pioneer Reception. In the afternoon of the 
same day, at a reception in the Tabernacle, a badge of 
honor was presented to each of the veterans, as a gift 
from the State. The presentation was under the di- 
rection of the Jubilee Commission, and was made by 
twenty-seven young ladies, representing the twenty- 
seven counties. The badge, which was of gold, was 
a passport to all the festivities and amusements un- 
der the control of the Commission. t 



*The feeble health of President Woodruff would not admit of his 
offering the dedicatory prayer, which was delivered at his request 
by Bishop Orson F. Whitney. The monument was presented to the 
State by the Brigham Young Memorial Association, under whose 
auspices it had been erected by popular subscription. The speech of 
presentation was made by the Honorable James H. Moyle, and the 
speech of acceptance by Governor Heber M. Wells. An oration by 
Judge C. C. Goodwin, an address by Brigham Young — the eldest sur- 
viving son of the great Pioneer, the singing of "America" by the 
Tabernacle Choir, and the reading of a telegram of congratulation 
from the artist, Dallin, the designer and builder of the monument, 
were among the features of the occasion. Bishop Lawrence Scan- 
Ian, of the Catholic Church, closed the ceremonies with a benedic- 
tion. C. E. Dallin, the sculptor, is a native of Springville, Utah. 
At the time of the Jubilee he was in Paris. 

tA poem, "The Pioneers of Utah," composed by N. Albert Sher- 
man, and read by David McKenzie, was one of the features of the 
reception. At a concert in the evening, "The Pioneer Ode" — words 
by Orson F. Whitney, music by Evan Stephens — was sung by the 
Tabernacle Choir (one thousand voices) assisted by the Jubilee 
Chorus and the Knights of Pythias Band, all led by Professor 
Stephens, with Joseph J. Daynes at the organ. 

Others who lent their talents to the program of the Jubilee were 
B. H. Roberts, R. C. Easton, Mrs. Viola Pratt Gillette, Madam 
Swenson, Professors Radcliffe, Bassett, Pedersen, and Thomas, the 
Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Band, and the Ladies' Philo- 
mela Club, of Denver. 



268 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

The Hall of Relics. A point of special interest dur- 
ing the Jubilee, and for many days thereafter, was the 
Hall of Relics, built by the Commission on the site of 
the old Council House. It was an elegant though 
transient edifice, planned after the famous Parthe- 
non at Athens, and suggested in its chaste appearance 
and classic outlines the buildings composing the won- 
derful "White City" at the World's Fair. The Hall 
of Relics, as its name implies, contained collections of 
curios and souvenirs of pioneer times, gathered from 
various sources, catalogued, and placed on exhibition. 

Other Features of the Jubilee. Among the public 
spectacles were "The Pageant of Progress," illustrat- 
ing the growth of Utah during fifty years ; "The Chil- 
dren's Parade," in which ten thousand children from 
the district and Sabbath schools took part ; "The Il- 
luminated Parade, or Great Salt Lake Real and Fan- 
ciful ;" "The Parade of the Counties," made up of 
floats carrying natural and industrial products ; and 
finally "The Pioneer Parade," the crowning feature 
of the festival, and probably the most extensive and 
varied spectacle of its kind ever seen in the West."^ 
On the night of the Twenty-fourth — Pioneer Day — 
in a brilliant display of fireworks from Capitol Hill, 
the Jubilee expired in a blaze of glory. 



*At one of the great gatherings in the Tabernacle the aged Pio- 
neer, Wilford Woodruff, was crowned with a floral wreath by a 
little girl, the grand-daughter of a Pioneer. On the day of the 
Children's Parade, the little ones, as they passed the Pioneer Monu- 
ment, threw flowers upon it until the base was covered. The grand 
reproduction of the Pioneer Train and the Handcart Company 
capped the pathetic climax, and brought tears to many eyes. 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 269 



21. Since the Jubilee. 

1898—1908. 

The War with Spain. The State of Utah was a 
Httle more than two years old when war broke out be- 
tween the United States and Spain. In April, 1898, 
the Federal Government called upon Utah for five 
hundred volunteers, and the Governor, on the twenty- 
sixth of that month, issued his proclamation announc- 
ing that such a call had been made and inviting the 
young and able-bodied men of the State to enlist and 
fight for their country. Recruiting officers were sent 
to all the principal towns. "^ So prompt and uni- 
versal was the response, that the Governor was 
able. May first, to telegraph to the A\'ar Department 
that the full quota of troops had been secured, 
and would be at Fort Douglas on the fifth of May, 
ready to be mustered into the national service. Up- 
wards of seven hundred men had volunteered, when, 
on the fourth of May, the order to stop recruiting was 
issued. 

The Utah Light Artillery. Partly owing to the fact 
that this State possessed eight field guns of the very 
latest model, it was called upon to furnish two bat- 
teries of light artillery. These batteries were mus- 



*The recruiting officers were Willard Young, Richard W. Young, 
John Q. Cannon, Frank A. Grant, Ray C. Naylor, Joseph E. Caine, 
George F. Downey, and George W. Gibbs. 



270 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



tered into service at Fort 
Douglas on the ninth of 
May, by Lieutenant 
Briant H. Wells, of the 
United States Army.* 

Battery A was organ- 
ized with Richard W. 
A^oung as Captain, 
George W. Gibbs as 
First Lieutenant, and 
Ray C. Naylor and W. 
CAVebb as Second Lieu- 
tenants; and Battery B, 
with Frank A. Grant as 
Captain, Edgar A. 
Wedgewood as First 
Lieutenant, and John F. 
Critchlow and Orrin A. 
Grow as Second Lieu- 
tenants. t The batteries were ordered to report to 
General Merritt at San Francisco. They left Salt 




Captain Richard W. Young. 



^Lieutenant (now Captain) Wells, a brother to Governor Wells, 
fought under General Shafter in Cuba, and was wounded at the bat- 
tle of Santiago. Another Utah boy prominent in the Spanish War 
was Ensign Henry A. Pearson, of Draper, who was with Admiral 
Dewey in the naval battle of Manila. The Twenty-fourth United 
States Infantry (colored troops) stationed at Fort Douglas, and the 
Second United States Infantry, to which regiment Lieutenant Wells 
belonged, also fought gallantly at Santiago. 

tRichard W. Young, grandson of President Brigham Young, was 
a graduate of West Point, and had seen service in the regular army 
as Lieutenant of Artillery and Captain in the corps of Judge Ad- 
vocates. After resigning his commission in 1889, he practiced law 
in his native city — Salt Lake — and was the first Brigadier General of 
the reorganized Utah Militia. Frank A. Grant was a native of 
Kingston, Canada, and a graduate of the Old Kingston Military 
Academy. He had resided in Utah since 1889, engaged in mining, 
real estate and insurance business. He was Colonel of the First In- 
fantry in the National Guard of ITtah. 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 271 

Lake City on the twentieth of May, and on the fif- 
teenth of June sailed as a part of the second expedi- 
tion to the Philippine Islands, under command of Gen- 
eral Francis V. Greene. On the twelfth of July a third 
battery, known as Battery C, was org^anized, w^ith 
Frank W. Jennings as Captain, and John D. Murphy 
and William J. B. Stacey as Lieutenants. This organ- 
ization was subsequently ordered to San Francisco, 
where it performed garrison duty in the forts of that 
harbor. Upon the enlistment of Battery C the Utah 
artillery became a battalion, with Richard W. Young 
as Major in command. 

Other Volunteers. Utah also raised for seryice 
against Spain a troop of cayalry, commanded by Cap- 
tain Joseph E. Caine, with Benner X. Smith and Gor- 
don N. Kimball as Lieutenants ; and Troop I of Tor- 
rey's Rough Riders, of which John Q. Cannon was 
Captain, and J. Washington Young and Andrew J. 
Burt w^ere Lieutenants.* Captain Caine's cayalry was 
ordered to the Pacific Coast, where it did yaluable ser- 
vice in patrolling the Yosemite and Sequoia National 
Parks. The Rough Riders joined their regiment at 
Cheyenne, Wyoming, and thence proceeded to Jack- 
sonville, Florida, where they encamped with other 
troops, awaiting any call that might come from the 
seat of war in Cuba or elsewhere. 

An important command was placed upon another 
native son of Utah, when Willard Young was ap- 



*Captain Cannon afterwards became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
regiment, and Lieutenant Young the Captain of Troop L At the 
same time Andrew J. Burt was promoted from Second to First 
Lieutenant, and First Sergeant Sidney K. Hooper, son of former 
Delegate Hooper, became Second Lieutenant of the Troop. 



272 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



pointed by President McKinley Colonel of the Second 
United States Volunteer Engineers.* This regiment 
consisted of twelve hundred men, recruited from va- 
rious States. Of the fifty furnished by Utah, all but 
two were assigned to duty in the Hawaiian Islands. 
Colonel Young and Chaplain Elias Kimball, with 

Surgeons Meacham and 
McKenna, joined the 
main body of the regi- 
ment and proceeded to 
Montauk Point, Long 
Island. There the engi- 
neers served very effi- 
ciently in preparing a 
camp for the soldiers re- 
turning from Cuba. The 
regiment was afterwards 
ordered to Cuba, and 
were the first United 
States troops to arrive at 
Havana, v/here they 
raised the Stars and 
Stripes (December 10, 
1898) and immediately 
began to prepare quar- 
ters for the American army afterward stationed there. 
The engineers were mustered out of service at Au- 
gusta, Georgia, in May, 1899. 

In the Philippines. The guns of the Utah Batteries 




Captain Frank A. Grant. 



*Willard Young, son of President Brigham Young, was a gradu- 
ate of West Point, and had been a Captain in the United States En- 
gineers, doing service in different parts of the country. When the 
Spanish War began he was Brigadier General of the Utah National 
Guard. 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 



273 



were mounted upon the decks of three of the four 
ships comprising the expedition with which they 
sailed, to assist in repelling any attack that might be 
made by Spanish gun-boats. The voyage, however, 
passed without hostile incident. The batteries reached 
their destination on the seventeenth of July, and dis- 
embarked at Camp Dewey on the shore of Manila 
Bay, just south of the city.* The Spanish army was 
then cooped up in Ma- 
nila, almost entirely sur- 
runded by the Philippine 
forces under Aguinaldo. 
A detachment from each 
battery, thrown into the 
trenches about one-half 
mile south of the Span- 
ish fortifications, ren- 
dered valuable service in 
repelling attacks on the 
American lines during 
the last night of July and 
through the succeeding 
fortnight. On the thir- 
teenth of August the 
Utah Artillery joined 
with Admiral DcAvev in 




Judge Goodwin. 



bombarding Fort San Antonio de Abad and the Span- 
ish trenches. The attack of the combined American 
and Philippine forces on that day resulted in the cap- 



*Pioneer Day of that year was devoted throughout Utah to the 
holding of memorial services in honor of the American sailors who 
went down with the "Maine" in Havana Harbor (February, 1898). 
The people of the State gave a large contribution toward the erection 
of a monument in honor of the dead. 



18 



274 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



ture of the city with fourteen thousand men and vast 
quantities of war material. 

During the period of quiet that followed, the 
Utah Artillery was assigned, with other artillery from 
the regular forces, to Major General Mcx\rthur's di- 
vision of the Eighth Army Corps, and Major Richard 
W. Young was made the divisional Chief of Artillery. 

The batteries, each of 
which originally com- 
prised one hundred and 
twenty-one officers and 
men, were now recruit- 
ed to their full strength 
of one hundred and sev- 
enty-three. 

At the time of the Fil- 
ipino outbreak (Febru- 
ary, 1899) the batteries 
were separated into de- 
tachments extending a 
distance of eight miles 
from Santa Mesa on the 
right to Manila on the 
left. These detachments 
rendered most eflficient 
B. H. Roberts. service throughout the 

night of the fourth, and 
all during the battle of the fifth and sixth. From 
that time until the capture of San Fernando early 
in June, the Utah Artillery was prominent in every 
action north of the Pasig River, taking part in scores 
of engagements, including those at Deposito, Santo- 
Ian, La Loma, Caloocan, Malinta, Marilao, Guiguinto, 




SINCE THE JUBILEE. 



275 



Maloloa, Bag: Bag, Calumpit, Santa Thomas and San 
Fernando. No volunteer 
or regular troops in the 
Philippines achieved 
more distinction for 
bravery and efficiency 
than the Utah Batter- 
ies.* 

Soon after the begin- 
ning of the insurrection, 
Captain F. A. Grant was 
assigned to the com- 
mand of several gun- 
boats operating on Ma- 
nila Bay and in the 
rivers and lakes. From. 
February to June, 1899. 
he, with a number oT 
Utah and other soldiers 
under his command, ren- 
dered valiant naval assistance to the army. In the 
latter part of June Major Young, having been ap- 




JUDGE BaSKIN. 



*Judge C. C. Goodwin wrote thus of the Utah Batteries : "The 
necessities of the war made them ubiquitous; they were every- 
where, on river, on land, and when a stronghold was to be stormed, 
their guns first cleared the way, until in an army where all were 
heroes the men of Utah made for themselves a conspicuous name. 
They earned it, for they never retreated, never lost a battle or a 
flag, never started for the foe that they did not scatter it as the 
wind scatters the chaff from the threshing floor. When their terms 
of enlistment expired, they fought on, week after week, until their 
places could be supplied. . . . The record of the volunteers is no- 
where dimmed. They went away boys ; they returned men. They 
made for themselves great names ; by their deeds they exalted the 
name of their State. They have won for themselves an appreciative 
people's gratitude, a nation's praise." 



276 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



pointed a member of the Supreme Court of 
the Philippine Islands, relinquished his command of 
the Battalion, and Captain Grant was appointed Major 
to fill the vacancy. Lieutenant Critchlow then became 
Captain of Battery B, Lieutenant Wedgewood having 
been made Captain of Battery A in July, 1898. 

Return of the Volunteers. Honorably relieved from 
duty in the Philippines, the Utah Batteries sailed for 

San Francisco, where, 

on the sixteenth of 
August, 1899, they were 
mustered out of service. 
Three days later, at 
Salt Lake City, the re- 
turning volunteers pass- 
ed under the arch of tri- 
umph erected in their 
honor by their grateful 
and admiring fellow cit- 
izens. Majors Young 
and Grant — the former 
on leave from his post of 
duty — rode at the head 
of the colum.n as it 
marched through the 
crowded streets from 
the Oregon Short Line 
depot to Liberty Park, the main scene of the welcom- 
ing festivities. It was a general holiday. Other towns 
held similar celebrations to welcome home their heroes.* 




Thomas Kearns. 



*Among those who fell in battle was Dr. Harry A. Young, Quar- 
ter-master Sergeant of Battery A, whose commission as First Lieu- 
tenant and Assistant Surgeon of the Utah Artillery was on the way 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 



277 



Political Events. The departure of the volunteers for 
the seat of war had been followed by a notable political 
event, one that created considerable agitation. It was 
the election of B. H. 
Roberts to Congress. 
This gentleman was 
the candidate of the 
Democratic Party, and 
was chosen Represent- 
ative in November, 
1898, Robert N. Baskin 
being elected on the 
same ticket Chief Jus- 
tice of the State. Mr. 
Roberts made a strong 
hght in the face of 
great opposition, and 
though succesful at the, 
polls, a prolonged con- 
test ensued, ending 

in his being denied 

, . ,1 -rj- Joseph Howell. 

a seat m the House 

of Representatives. He was refused admission for the 




when he was slain. The new titles were confirmed upon the de- 
ceased by Act of Congress. The other artillerymen killed in battle 
were Sergeant Ford Fisher, Corporal John G. Young, and Private 
Wilhelm T. Goodman, of Battery A; and Corporal M. C. Jensen, 
Privates George A. Hudson, Fred A. Bumiller, and Max Maddison, 
of Battery B. Others who died abroad were Corporals George O. 
Larson and John T. Kennedy, Privates Charles Parsons, Oscar A. 
Feninger, and Richard H. Ralph ; the first four of Battery A, and 
the last one of Battery B. Many of the artillerymen were wounded. 
The bodies of Harry A. Young, John G. Young, Ford Fisher, Charles 
Parsons and Wilhelm T. Goodman were brought home for burial. 



278 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



same reason that the seat of Delegate Cannon was 
declared vacant in 1882. 

The result in the Roberts case made necessary a 
special election for Representative, which occurred in 
April, 1900, when William H. King was chosen a sec- 
ond time for the place. At the regular election in 
November of that year the Republicans were victor- 
ious, and George Sutherland succeeded Judge King as 
Representative. Two years later Joseph Howell, also 
a Republican, succeeded Mr. Sutherland. 

The same election that sent Mr. Roberts to Con- 
gress gave a Democratic 
majority to the Legisla- 
tive Assembly of 1899, 
when it was expected 
that a United States 
Senator would be chos- 
en to succeed Frank J. 
Cannon. The leading 
candidates were Alfred 
W. McCune, William H. 
King, Judge Powers and 
Senator Cannon; all 
Democrats but the last- 
named, who was a Sil- 
ver Republican. Mr. 
McCune came within 
one or two votes of be- 
ino" elected, but divisions 




Reed Smoot. 



among 
caused 



the 
the 



Democrats 
session to 



Qnd without the choosing of a United States Senator. 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 



279 



The seat remained vacant until January, 1901, when 
the Republicans, having regained control of the Leg- 
islature, sent Thomas Kearns to the Upper House of 
Congress. In 1903 the term of Senator Rawlins ex- 
pired, and he was succeeded by Senator Reed Smoot.* 
Theodore Roosevelt. This great man has been in 
Utah twice — the first 
time in the autumn of 
1900, when, as the Re- 
publican candidate for 
Vice-President, he made 
speeches in different 
parts of the country, not 
omitting the \V e st , 
which was once his 
home. He spoke at the 
Salt Lake Theatre, and 
during his brief stay en- 
joyed a horseback gal- 
lop with the Rough Rid- 
ers, who came from all 
parts to greet ''the hero 
of San Juan Hill." The 
second visit was on the 
twenty-ninth of May. 
1903. Roosevelt was 

then President, having succeeded the lamented Mc- 
Kinley. Utah gave him a splendid ovation, one of 
the greatest parades ever seen in these parts taking 
place in his honor. Afterw^ards two mammoth meet- 




President Roosevelt. 



^Senator Smoot was chosen for six years. Senator Kearns, at the 
end of his four years of service, was succeeded by Senator George 
Sutherland. Representative Howell was re-elected in 1904 and in 1906. 



280 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 




ings were held, one at 
the Salt Lake City and 
County Building, and 
the other in the Taber- 
nacle, at both of which 
the President address- 
ed enthusiastic multi- 
tudes. In one of his 
speeches he dwelt up- 
on the theme of Arid 
America and the means 
of its redemption.* 

The Eleventh Irriga- 
tion Congress. The 
visit of President 
Roosevelt, and his 
timely remarks upon 
the reclamation of the 
arid West found a fitting supplement in the Na- 
tional Irrigation Congress, which was held in the 



George Sutherland. 



*At the west entrance of the City and County Building a platform 
had been raised from which President Roosevelt might review the 
parade and address an army of twelve thousand school children, 
gathered near the stand, all supplied with American flags, and each 
one trying to outdo the others in waving the banner and cheering 
the President. His address to them was brief and to the point: 
"Children," said he, "I have but one word to say to. you. I believe 
in work, and I believe in play ; play hard when 3^ou play, and when 
you work don't play at all. That is good advice to old people as 
well as children. I am very glad to see you. Good bye ! Good luck 
to you." At the Tabernacle Governor Wells delivered an address 
of welcome, Miss Emma Ramsey sang "The Flag Without a Stain," 
and Senator Kearns made a brief talk, introducing President Roose- 
velt, a part of whose speech was a tribute to Utah and the Pioneers. 

At the conclusion of the President's address. Secretary Moody, 
of the United States Navy, and Secretary of Agriculture Wilson 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 281 

autumn of 1903 at Ogden.* It opened on the fif- 
teenth of September, lasted four days, and proved 
to be a most interesting and important event. Fred 
J. Kiesel, of Ogden, w^as the chairman of the ex- 
ecutive committee, and the sessions were presided 
over by Senator W. A. Clark, of Montana. t 

The Carbon County Strike. In November of that 
year a strike of coal miners in Carbon County created 
a situation that was deemed of sufficient gravity to 
justify the calling out of the militia. The strikers were 
employes of the Utah Fuel Company, and also mem- 
bers of the societv known as the United Mine Work- 



each spoke a few words. The former said concerning Utah : 
"No State sent better or more splendid volunteers to the Philip- 
pines, and we want more of your young men to tread the decks of 
our war vessels." He partly promised that one of the. great battleships 
soon to be built should be named "The Utah." After breakfast at 
the home of Senator Kearns, and a reception at the Alta Club, the 
presidential party drove to the Oregon Short Line depot, returned 
to Ogden, and departed for the East." 

*The official call for the Congress described it in these words : 
"A convention of vital concern to the American Nation ; to those 
who would make two blades of grass grow where one grew before ; to 
all who realize that water is the Midas touch which turns the des- 
ert sands to gold. A convention of specific significance to the States 
and Territories whose arid lands are to be reclaimed by the Federal 
Government under the provisions of the National Irrigation Act, 
namely Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Ne- 
braska, North Dakota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, 
South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming." 

tA prize Irrigation Ode, written by Mrs. Virginia D. McClurg, of 
Colorado Springs, and set to music by Professor John J. McClellan, 
of Salt Lake City, was sung at the opening session by the Ogden 
Tabernacle Choir, led by Director Joseph Ballantyne. Among the 
speakers were Governor Wells, Senator Clark, Secretary Wilson, 
Chief Engineer Newell, Chief Forester Pinchot, and William E. 
Smythe, "the father of the Irrigation Congress." Letters were read 
from President Roosevelt and other American statesmen. Num- 
bered with the noted visitors present were representatives of the gov- 
ernments of France and Mexico. 



282 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



ers of America, presided over by John Mitchell, under 

whose orders the strike 
took place. The men 
who left work numbered 
about twelve hundred, 
and were mostly Ital- 
ians ; few being native 
Americans or perma- 
nent citizens of Utah. It 
was a sympathetic strike, 
designed to influence 
the outcome of a similar 
movement in Colorado. 
In Utah there was no 
real grievance, since ev- 
ery privilege for which 
the Colorado miners 
were contending was en- 
joyed by the miners in 
this State. To protect those who desired to 
continue at work, and were threatened with violence 
by agitators and their followers. Governor Wells, after 
being informed by the Sheriff of Carbon County that 
he was unable to cope with the situation, sent Brigadier 
General John Q .Cannon with troops to the scene of 
the trouble.* Detachments of the Guard were assigned 

*Said Governor Wells at the time: "While I am an advocate of 
the legitimate rights of organized labor, I object to, and will resist, 
any attempt to visit upon the people of this State the sins of another 
State. We were foremost to legalize the eight-hour day in Utah, and 
instead of being applauded and assisted and respected for it, these 
agitators are seeking to punish us for it. It will not do. As long as 
I am Governor I shall resist the tyrannical and unlawful interfer- 
ference of individuals or Unions with the peaceable pursuits of the 
citizens of this State." 




Fred J. Kiesel 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 



283 



to duty at Scofiekl, Castle Gate and Siinnyside. No 
fighting occurred, though a few arrests were made. 
An Italian named Demolli, for inciting to riot, was im- 
prisoned for a brief period, and a female agitator — 
"Mother" Jones — was also put in jail for breaking the 
quarantine rules. The militia remained there on duty 
for two months, and its presence gave peace and pro- 
tection to life and property.* 




The University of Utah. 

Governor Wells and His Work. Governor Wells 
closed his first term in January, 1901, and his second 
term in January, 1905. He was in of^ce nine years, 
— longer than any Governor of Utah before him. 
Popular with all classes, he was rightly regarded by 
his fellow citizens as an intelligent, broad-minded, 
honest and capable Executive. 



*Carbon County was the scene of a terrible tragedy in May, 1900, 
when an accidental explosion in the coal mintes at Winter Quarters, 
near Scofield, killed about two hundred miners, mostly foreigners. It 
was the most disastrous event of its kind in the history of Utah. 



284 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



Governor Cutler. John C. Cutler, the second Gov- 
ernor of the State, is an Englishman by birth, but for 
many years has been an American citizen and a resi- 
dent of Utah. At the 
time of his election (No- 
vember, 1904) he was a 
prominent and success- 
ful business man of Salt 
Lake City. Like his pre- 
decessor, he is a member 
of the Republican Party. 
An Educational Con- 
troversy. Soon after 
Governor Cutler was in- 
ducted into office he was 
confronted by a contro- 
versy between the Uni- 
versity of Utah and the 
Agricultural College. 
Both these institutions 

^ ^ had done excellent work 

John C. Cutler, . . j r .1 • 

Second Governor of the State of ^nd were noted for their 
Utah. efficiency, but a strong 

rivalry existed between them. At each session of the 
Legislature they vied with each other in asking for 
financial support and scholastic recognition. It hav- 
ing become apparent to the Governor that there 
was an unnecessary and expensive duplication of 
studies in the institutions, he sent a special mes- 
sage to the Legislature, asking that the matter be 
investigated and a remedy found. After due in- 
quiry laws were enacted in 1907 restricting and pre- 




SINCE THE JUBILEE. 



285 



scribing the work of the two schools, and designating 
the field that each must occupy. They are now suc- 
cessfully conducted on much less revenue than for- 
merly, and the intense rivalry between them has been 
allayed. Many citizens have favored the consolida- 
tion of the University and the Agricultural College, 
but up to the present time this policy has not been 
found practicable. 




The Agricultural College. 



Public Libraries. Mention should here be made of 
the opening of the Free Public Library, the muni- 
ficent gift of John Q. Packard, a mining millionaire, to 
Salt Lake City. The handsome Grecian structure is 
a neighbor to the Alta Club, and is not far from the 
historic Eagle Gate and Bee-Hive House. The open- 
ing was in October, 1905. Some of the books now 
upon the shelves of the institution were once in the 
old Masonic Library, which followed the Territorial 
Library, founded in 1850-1852. The remnants of that 
literary collection long ago became a part of the li- 
brary of the University of Utah. Ogden City also 



286 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 




Free Public Library, Salt Lake City. 

has a free public library, a creation of the Carnegie 
Eund. 

Juvenile Courts. A law enacted in 1905 made pro- 
vision for the establishment of Juvenile Courts in cer- 
tain cities of the State, and in 1907 a law was passed 
providing for a Juvenile Court in each of the seven 
judicial districts. The purpose of these institutions 
is to safeguard the youth, to help the boys and girls 
to realize their position and duties, to remove them 
from evil associations, and make them good and use- 
ful citizens. The judges and probation oflficers of the 
courts are appointed by the State Juvenile Court Com- 
mission, which consists of the Governor, the Attorney 
General, and the Superintendent of Pviblic Instruc- 
tion. 



SINCE THE JUBILEE. 287 

The Present Status. The twenty-seven counties 
of Utah have a collective population of more than 
three hundred thousand.* Farming, stock growing, 
mining and manufacturing are the principal occupa- 
tions of the people, but the learned professions and 
the fine arts have many representatives among them. 
The assessed valuation for property of all kinds is 
$161,325,450. Governor Cutler has given careful and 
conscientious attention to the finances of the State, 
and they are in an excellent condition. The revenue 
has been increased, expenses cut down, and all the 
public institutions benefited, especially the Industrial 
School and the Mental Hospital. Recently the State 
laws were compiled, and so amended that funds in 
the possession of the State Board of Land Commis- 
sioners might be used for irrigation enterprises and 
the reclamation of arid lands. In May, 1908, the Utah 
Peace Society was organized, in harmony with the 
world movement for universal peace. That the Na- 
tional Guard of Utah has lost none of its former effi- 
ciency, is shown by the fact that in its latest encamp- 
ment (Wyoming, August, 1908) the militia, now num- 
bering over four hundred officers. and men, won honor 
in competition with regular troops. Under Governor 
Cutler, as under Governor Wells, the State has made 
steady progress. The past is an honorable record, and 
the future is bright with promise. 



*The twenty-seven counties are Beaver, Box Elder. Cache, Carbon, 
Davis, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, 
Piute, Rich, Salt Lake, San Juan. Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, 
Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, Washington, Wavne, and Weber. The pop- 
ulation of Utah in 1850 was 11,380; in 1860, 40,273; in 1870, 86,786; 
in 1880, 143,963; in 1890, 207,705; in 1900, 276,749, 



288 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



22. The Industrial Phase. 

An Evenly Developed State. Utah is a land of won- 
derful resources, and her resources have been evenly 
developed, each one relying and leaning upon the oth- 
ers. Governor Wells, in his inaugural address (Janu- 
ary, 1896) made mention of this fact and further eulo- 
gized the material features of his native State: "She 
has the greatest diversity of industry, and offers the 
greatest variety of occupation, of any State in the 
Union," said the Governor. "The fame of Utah has 
gone forth to the world, not alone as a mining State, 
nor as an agricultural State, nor as a grazing State, 
nor as a manufacturing State, but she is famous in 
each and all of these various pursuits, and is known 
not more widely for her gold and silver than for her 
potatoes and woolen goods."* 



*Another authority upon the subject — Judge Edward F. Colborn — 
expresses the following opinion : "Probably no other State in the 
Union has within its -borders such a variety of resources. No other 
State could be so nearly independent and self-supporting. If inter- 
course with the outside world were cut off, there are few of the nec- 
essities or luxuries that could not be produced in abundance within 
the boundaries of Utah. It is an empire within itself. . . . Even 
now much of what is imported into the State might easily be pro- 
duced at home. Almost every variety of climate, which is generally 
salubrious and agreeable, can be found in Utah. There are valleys 
for the farmer, the gardener, and the fruit grower ; low mountain 
land, slopes, and terraces for the sheep raiser ; mountains for the 
miner; scenery, hunting, fishing, and bathing for the pleasure seeker; 
hot springs and pure air for the invalid ; and plenty of opportunity 
and occupation for men of lousiness and enterprise." 



THK IXDl'STRI.XL F^H.\Sf<:. _\xu 

Agriculture. Adam's occupation — the tilling of the 
soil — will always be the most important industry in 
the State of Utah. Mining may produce more wealth, 
but wealth alone does not determine the question 
of importance. The beginnings of agriculttu'e in 
this region were at the pioneer camps on City Creek 
(July, 1847). There was no monopoly of land or wa- 
ter in that early colony, nor in any of the colonies that 
sprang from it. Small holdings were the rule. It wa> 
a maxim in the community that a man should own no 
more ground than he could cultivate. Each settler 
was given a town lot and a small field on the outskirts. 
He was expected to take good care of them, and be. 
industrious and provident. These pieces of real es- 
tate were distributed by lot, each holder paying a 
nominal fee to meet the expenses of surveying and 
recording. In return, a temporary right of occupancy 
was given, contingent upon the grant of the General 
Government wdien the Federal land laws should be 
extended over the newly acquired region. A town lot 
contained an acre and a quarter, and a field, five, ten, 
or twenty acres. At present the average farm in Utah 
is about forty acres, which is three or four times 
smaller than the average farm in the State of Kansas.'^ 

Irrigation. The soil in Salt Lake Valley and the 
surrounding region w^as found to be so dry and hard 



*In Utah the greatest number of farms are found in Cache, Utah, 
Salt Lake Sanpete, Weber, Davis, Box Elder, and Tooele counties. 
Next come Garfield, Emery, Wasatch, Washington, Millard, Beaver, 
Morgan, Juab, Iron, Sevier, Kane and Rich counties. The stock- 
growing districts are mainly in the counties of Beaver. Box Elder, 
Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Millard, Morgan, Rich San Juan. 
Sanpete, Tooele, Utah, Washington, and Wayne. 

19 



290 THE MAKING (3F A S1\\'rK. 

<is to require flooding before it could be successfully 
plowed, and the rainfall was so light and the dry sea- 
sons so prolonged that the settlers, in order to raise 
crops, wxre compelled to resort to irrigation as a reg- 
ular practice. This involved much labor, but the 
abundant returns amply repaid the toiler. Far great- 
er crops are produced by irrigation than w^ould be pos- 
sible without it, even wdiere rain is plentiful. At first 
the mountain streams, turned out of their original 
channels into ditches dug for the purpose, were used 
for moistening and making productive the barren 
ground; afterwards canals were constructed and the 
rivers utilized in like manner upon a larger scale. The 
artesian well, unknown to the Pioneers, is a recog- 
nized institution w^ith their descendants. 

On the twenty-ninth of June, 1902, President 
Roosevelt approved the Act of Congress known as the 
National Irrigation Law. Under this statute — to 
which reference has already been made* — the pro- 
ceeds from the sales of public lands in certain States 
and Territories may be used for the construction of ir- 
rigation works for the reclamation of arid lands. The 
purpose is to impound the waste waters for the benefit 
of the farming population. The Secretary of the In- 
terior is authorized to make examinations and surveys 
and to locate and construct works for the storage, di- 
version, and development of waters. Throughout 
Utah there are many natural depressions that might 
easily be converted into reservoirs, wherein to pre- 
serve the surplus flow of the streams ; the wet sea- 

*See paragraphs headed "Theodore Roosevelt" and "The Eleventh 
Irrigation Congress," Chapter XXI. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASIv 291 

sons being- made lo minister to the dr\ . it has been 
proposed to convert Utah Lake — which ah-eady sup- 
plies Salt Lake \'a ley with irrigating water by means 
of canals — into a great storage reservoir. Half the 
N'olume of the lake rises in vapor every season. The 
plan is to reduce this loss, and conduct the water over 
the unreclaimed area lying around and within thirtv 
miles of the lake margins."^' 

Arid Farming. At one time irrigation was thought 



^President Roosevelt, in his speech at the Tabernacle, Salt 
Lake City (May, 1903), said: "Not in recent years has any more 
important law been put upon the statute books of the Federal 
Government, than the law, a year ago, providing for the first 
time that the National Government should interest itself in aiding 
and building up a system of irrigated agriculture in the Rocky 
Mountain and Plain states. And here the Government, to a 
degree, had to sit at the feet of Gamaliel in the person of Utah ; 
for what you had done and learned was of incalculable benefit 
to those who engaged in framing and getting tiirough the Na- 
tional Irrigation Law. For irrigation was first practiced on a 
large scale in this State. The necessity of the Pioneers here led to 
the development of irrigation to a degree absolutely unknown before 
upon this continent, and in no respect was the wisdom of the early 
Pioneers made more evident than in the sedulous care they took to 
provide for small farms carefull}- tilled by those who lived on and 
benefited from them. And hence it comes about that the average 
amount of land required to support the family in Utah is smaller than 
in any other part of the United States ; because we all know that 
when we once get irrigation, practically applied, rain is a very poor 
substitute for it. Now the Federal Government must co-operate 
with Utah and Utah's people for the further extension of the ir- 
rigated area. Some of the most important provisions of the Federal 
Act, such as the control of irrigation works by the communities 
which they serve, such as making the water appurtenant to the land, 
and not a source for speculation apart from the land, — all that was 
based upon the experience of Utah. . . . Now one of the tasks 
that the Government must do here in Utah is to l^uild reservoirs for 
the storage of the flood water. . . . Besides the storage of water 
there must l:e protection of the water sheds, and that is why I ask 
you to help the United States Government to protect the water sheds 
by protecting the forests upon them." 



292 1^HE MAKING OF A STATE. 

to be inclispensal)]^ in Utah — that nothing could be 
raised without it — but in recent years it has been 
found possible, in some places, to mature good crops 
without irrigation. This discovery was made about 
1860. but the fact w^as not generally accepted until 
twenty years later, when dry farming was successfully 
practiced in Central and Southern Utah. With a view 
to awakening the public mind to the possibilities in 
arid farming, the Legislature of 1903 located six ex- 
perimental dry farms, one in each of the following- 
counties : Iron, Juab, San Juan, Sevier, Tooele, and 
Washington. The sum of $12,500 was appropriated 
to meet the cost of the experiments during two years. 
The Legislature of 1905 appropriated $15,500 for the 
purpose of continuing the investigations. These 
farms are conducted under the direction of the Ex- 
periment Station connected with the Agricultural Col- 
lege, and much of the credit for the success so far 
achieved by them is due to Dr. John A. Widtsoe, for- 
merly the director of the Experiment Station, and now 
the President of the Agricultural College."^ 

Principal Products. Tl;ie main products of the soil 
in Utah are wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, 
alfalfa, and timothy. Considerable corn is also raised. 
All the farmers have horses and cattle, and many of 
them have sheep and swine. Much of the wool clip 
was formerly worked up at home, but since our wool- 
len mills shut down, most of it has been sent out of the 
State. The yearly wool clip amounts to many mii- 



*Professors L. A. Merrill, P. A. Yoder and W. M. Jardine also 
deserve honorable mention in this connection. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 293 

lions of pounds, and is continually increasing. Poultry 
raising and egg production flourish in connection with 
farming. The live stock owned within the State in 
1907 was valued at $23,000,000, and during that year 
agriculture and live stock combined produced nearly 
fifty million dollars.* 

Horticulture. The Utah fruits are superior in 
sweetness, firmness, beauty and fine flavor. Apples, 
pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, nectarines, plums, 
grapes, strawberries, raspberries, currants, and all the 
small fruits thrive. Where the Rio Virgen and the 
Santa Clara river join, figs, jDomegranates and other 
tropical fruits abound. At the fifteenth National Ir- 
rigation Congress, held at Sacramento, California, in 
September, 1907, Utah w^on, among other prizes, the 
grand prize — the Hearst Sweepstakes Trophy — for 
the best collective State exhibit of irrigated land pro- 
duct s.t 



*The wheat yield on dry land is from twelve to tiiirty-five Inisliels 
an acre, and on irrigated farms sixty bushels an acre. The quality 
of the grain is excellent. Oats yield from fifty to eighty-five bushels 
an acre. Utah barley weighs over fifty pounds to the bushel, and is 
considered superior to any other produced in the United States. 
Utah potatoes are famous at home and abroad. More than thirty 
thousand acres of land are devoted to the raising of sugar beets. 
Whole families cultivate them, and find profitable employment in so 
doing. The average production per acre is over twelve tons (In Ger- 
many it is ten to eleven tons, and in Nebraska, eight tons), and as 
high as thirty-three tons to the acre have been produced. Alfalfa 
(lucern), a forage plant that has done much to redeem the waste, 
flourishes on this soil, three or four crops a year being raised in 
the lower valleys, where water is plentiful, while upon rough, dry. 
and stony ground at least one crop can lie raised without irrigation. 

tThe principal fruit-growing districts are in Box Elder, Weber, 
Utah, Salt Lake, Grand, and Washington counties. The Green 
River country has begun to loom up as a great fruit-growing re- 
gion. 



294 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

An Agricultural Forecast. President W idtsoe, of 
the Agricultural College, is authority for the state- 
ment that the three directions in which Utah agricul- 
ture promises to develop are: first, the live stock in- 
dustry, in which dairying will be foremost; second, 
horticulture, in which the fruit interests will predom- 
inate ; and thirdly, arid farming, or the production of 
grains and other crops on our deserts. Bee keeping, 
floriculture, market gardening, etc., will be secondary 
in importance to the three branches mentioned.* The 
sugar beet business will be controlled almost entirely 
by the number of factories in operation, and can never 
be made a general industry. The hog and beef in- 
dustry will be incidents of the dairy business. Sheep 
and cattle on the range will likely decrease as land be- 
comes better utilized for general farm purposes, and 
sheep and cattle on the farms will probably increase 
in almost the same ratio. The greatness of the sugar 
beet business is that its product is shipped out as a 
manufactured article. The strength of the dairy bus- 
iness lies in the same fact — butter and cheese are both 
manufactured products. The canneries and fruit- 
drying establishments will be to horticuHure what 
the creamery and cheese factory is to dairying. 

The Manufacturing Interests. While Utah is main- 
ly an agricultural and a mining State, she is also 
known for some very important manufacturing indus- 
tries that flourish within her borders. That the State 
might become self-sustaining and independent in all 



-ill 1907 Utal) liad 25,000 stands of bees, picduciiii^ 1.712.500 
pounds of hone> 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 295 

her material concerns, was the dream of those who 
founded the commonwealth. As early as 1852 a strong 
effort was put forth to awaken the people to a realiza- 
tion of the necessity that existed for the establish- 
ment of home industries. The community was iso- 
lated — a thousand miles from civilization — with no 
better means of communication with the outside 
world than the ox or mule wagon. How long the isola- 
tion would continue was uncertain, and meanwhile 
the problem confronting them was two-fold. They 
must either produce what they consumed, or pay the 
local merchants, in many instances, four or five times 
the worth of the goods that were imported and sold. 
It was this condition that made home production im- 
perative, and that gave birth to the industrial agita- 
tion of 1852. Four years later the Deseret Agricul- 
tural and Manufacturing Society was organized, for 
the special purpose of encouraging and promoting 
home manufactures and kindred interests. The Soci- 
ety held regular autumnal exhibitions for the display 
of, and awarding of prizes to, the best products of 
farm, factory, and industrial establishments in gen- 
eral. That year (1856) saw the first Territorial Fair, 
the forerunner of our present State Fairs. 

The Textile Industry. The raising of flax, silk, cot- 
ton, and wool, and the manufacture of cloth and va- 
rious articles from these products was advocated in 
Utah from the beginning. In places those industries 
were established, though necessarily on a limited 
scale. The people were poor, and in most cases were 
obliged to co-operate. Spinning wheels, hand looms, 
and cardino- machines, home-made and imported, ap- 



296 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

peared at a very early day. The tiax industry gradu- 
ally waned, and disappeared about the year 1880, but 
sericulture continued its experiments and manufac- 
tures past that point, as did also the enterprises hav- 
ing cotton and wool as the basis of their operations.* 
Sericulture. Silk worms and mulberry trees were 
imported by Brigham Young from the south of 
France in the fore part of the ''fifties," and he and 
other citizens led out in the establishment of co- 
cooneries and the raising of silk. Utah has always 
been regarded as a natural home for sericulture, and 
it is believed to have a great future in this region. At 
the Territorial and State fairs, for many years past, 
there have been exhibited fine specimens, not only 
of raw silk, l)ut of si^k fabric made into dresses, shawls, 
aprons, handkerchiefs, and other articles. The World's 
Fair exhibit of Utah silk (1893) created widespread 
favorable comment.! 



*The decline of the textile industry in Utah was largely owing to 
the advent of the railroad and to manufactures imported from 
ahroad. Local factories were unable to compete with centers having 
cheaper raw materials, cheaper labor, and better machinery. 

tMrs. Hayes, the wife of President Hayes, while at Salt Lake City 
in September. 1880, was presented by the ladies of the Relief Society 
with an elegant fichu of native silk. It was made by Mrs. Ursenbach. 
an adept in sericulture, and was worth seventy-five dollars. Mrs. 
Hayes was delighted with the gift, and assured the givers that she 
would wear it on state occasions. At the World's Fair a costly pair 
of silk curtains, beautifully embroidered hi the design of a honey 
bee, were exhibited as a Utah product, made by ladies of Salt Lake 
City and Ogden. The curtains were designed for the Woman's Build- 
ing — projected but never built — and were presented to Mrs. Potter- 
Palmer ("whose husband had contributed $200,000 toward the build- 
ing) by Mrs. O. J. Salisbur3% who represented the women of LUah 
on that occasion. Later Miss Susan B. Anthony, the noted wom- 
an suffragist, was presented with a handsome silk gown by the la- 
dies of the l^tah Silk Association. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 



297 



Cotton and Wool. Cotton was raised in Northern 
Utah as early as 1851, but Southern Utah is distinctive- 
ly the home of this industry. In 1855 cotton seed, 
brought from the Southern States, was planted in the 
Valley of the Santa Clara, and from the product of 
that planting thirty yards of cloth were made — the 
first cotton fabric manufactured in Utah.* In the 
spring of 1858 Joseph Home, of Salt Lake City, head- 




Utah Rambouilett Sheep. 

ed a colony that established a cotton farm on the Rio 
Virgen. The impetus given to cotton culture in Utah 
by the Civil War — which well nigh ruined the industry 
in the Southern States — has been noted in a former 



'•'The cotton seed — one quart — was sent l)y Nancy Pace Ander- 
son, a Southern lady residing at Parowan, to Jacob Hamblin. Indian 
missionary on the Santa Clara. The cloth was made by Caroline 
Beck Knight, Maria Woodbury Haskell and Lyman Curtis. The gin- 
ning and spinning were done by hand, and the weaving on a treadle 
loom. 



298 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

chapter. In 1862 cotton mills began to appear, at Par- 
owan, Springville, and other places. The most im- 
portant one was built . at Washington, Washington 
County, in 1865.* This was also a woolen mill. After 
the close of the great conflict the cotton industry re- 
vived in the Southern States, and declined in Utah. 
Until recently, however, the mill at Washington was 
still running. 

The wool industry in Utah is almost as old as the 
commonwealth itself. The first carding machine was 
brought to Salt Lake Valley in 1848. A thousand 
sheep came with the immigration of that year, and 
the first public carding machine w as set up by Amasa 
Russell, near Gardner's grist mill, ten miles south of 
Salt Lake City. To complete this mi]l, or one like it 
in the same neighborhood, the Legislature of 1852 ap- 
propriated two thousand dollars. At Provo, in 1851, 
Shadrach Holdaway opened a small woolen mill, 
the machinery for which he had purchased in Si. 
Louis. Brigham Young had a carding machine on 
Parley's Canyon Creek, Heber C. Kimball one on City 
Creek, and others were put up in various places. Many 
families had private looms, and took pride in making 
their own clothing. ]\Ien, women, and children dressed 
in home-made ''sheep's gray." In 1873 two woolen 
mills (Wasatch and Deseret) were in operation near 
Salt Lake City, and at the same time Ogden, Brig- 
ham, Grantsville, Provo, Beaver, Washington, Spring- 

*Tlie Southern L'taii Co-operative Afercantile Association dealt 
largel}' in cotton, and was very sucessful. Part of the raw product 
went to California, and some of it was freighted across the plains 
and forwarded to New York, where it sold at $1.40 to $1.90 a pound. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 



299 



ville, Kingston, and AA'est Jordan each had one. They 
made yarn, jeans, hnseys, and satinets. 

The largest and most successful of these establish- 
ments was the Prove Woolen Mills, founded in June, 
1869, by A. O. Smoot and associates. In 1870-1872, a 
factory building was erected and machinery worth 
seventy thousand dollars placed in it and started to 
running. The first cloth was put upon the market in 
1873. The Provo Manufacturing Company had a cap- 
ital of half a million dollars. They carried on a pros- 
perous manufacturing business, and engaged exten- 
sively in the wool trade. Their mills shut down in 
October, 1906. Two small woo'en factories are now 
operating in Utah. They are at Springville, Utah 
County, and at Hyrum, Cache County. 

Sugar Making. Our most successful manufacturing- 
industry at the present time — if we except the smelt- 
ing, miring, and refining of ores — is the making of 




The Sugar Plant at Garland. 



300 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

beet sugar. This business had a humble beginning as 
far back as 1852, when John Taylor, who had become 
familiar with the beet sugar culture in France, brought 
from Liverpool to Salt Lake City the first sugar ma- 
chinery. The attempt to make sugar at that time was 
only in part successful. About 1886 the subject was 
again agitated by Arthur Stayner, who devoted a 
great deal of time to working up a sentiment in its 
favor. At length the Utah Sugar Company was in- 
corporated (August, 1889), with Elias Morris as Pres- 
ident, and Mr. Stayner as Secretary and General Man- 
ager. Li 1891 a factory was built at Lehi, and grad- 
ually the industry extended, until now there are five 
large factories in Utah, and several in adjoining States 
owned by Utah people. The Utah factories are at 
Lehi, Ogden, Logan, Lewiston, and Garland. There 
are also cutting stations at Provo, Springville, and 
Spanish Fork, from which the beet juice is conveyed 
by pipe lines to Lehi. The output of these factories 
in 1907 was about one hundred million pounds of 
sugar. It is shipped" north to Montana, west to Ne- 
vada, and as far east as Chicago.* 

Salt Production. Utah is a land of salt. There are 
mountains of it in Juab, Sanpete and Sevier counties, 
and the Great Salt Lake holds within its briny waters 
an inexhaustible supply. The rock salt in central 
Utah is so clear that one can read through it, as 



*The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company is under the general manage- 
ment of Thomas R. Cutler, of Salt Lake City. The Amalgamated 
Sugar Company and the Lewiston Sugar Company are managed by 
David Eccles, of Ogden. Other factories arc in contemplation. 
Those already established employ thousands of lalx^rcrs in beet 
growing and sugar making. 



THFt INDUSTRIAL PHASK. 301 

through glass. The salt in the lake is obtained by 
pumping the brine into elevated flumes, that carry it 
inland to prepared ponds, where it deposits its mineral 
elements and crystallizes under the heat of the sun. 
The crude salt is refined in mills constructed near the 
evaporating ponds. The product is used for table 
and other domestic purposes, for live stock, for 
dairying, for manufacturing, for silver reduction, and 
for the packing of meats and hides.* 

Shoes and Overalls. Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, 
Logan, and Spanish Fork all have shoe factories. Z. 
C. M. L conducts at the chief city a large shoe and 
overall factory, which employs about two hundred 
men and women. 

Canneries. There are twenty-eight fruit and veg- 
etable canneries in Utah, most of them in Weber, Da- 
vis, and Box Elder counties. The canning business is 
rapidly assuming large proportions. In 1907 the local 
canneries packed 733,850 cases of fruit and vegetables, 
mainly peaches and tomatoes ; an output valued at one 
and a half million dollars. The outside market for 
this product is in the surrounding States and as far 
east as Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri. 



*Up to 1889 no attempt was made to utilize on a large scale, 
or in any but a crude and imperfect manner, the natural saline treas- 
ures for which Utah has long been famous. That year the Inland 
Salt Company was incorporated by Nephi W. Clayton, Jere Langford 
and others, who built the first salt refinery, and later sold their bus- 
iness to Kansas capitalists at a large profit. In 1893 Mr. Clayton 
and his asssociates organized the Inter-Mountain Salt Company, 
which, in 1898, consolidated with the first-named enterprise under 
the title of the Inland Crystal Salt Company, which is still in exis- 
tence. It has a salt farm of three thousand acres on the eastern 
shore of the Great Salt Lake, and manufactures every year about 
thirty thousand tons of salt, representing in cash $150,000. 



302 THE MAKING OF A S1\\ I R. 

Miscellanies, in addition to tlie industries named, 
Utah has brick-making plants, cement works, machine 
shops and foundries, saw mills, flouring mills, planing 
mills, stone quarries, lime kihis, potteries, tanneries, 
knitting factories, and creameries. Concerns for the 
manufacture of steam boilers, iron fencing, lead pipe, 
picks, brooms, brushes, vehicles, mattresses, show 
cases, crackers, ice, confectionery, vinegar, plaster of 
paris, paper boxes, rubber stamps, picture frames, har- 
ness, upholstery, chemicals, gloves, cofiins, mosaic 
tiles, and an endless variety of other articles, are run- 
ning in various parts of the State. In 1850 the total 
value of our industrial products w^as less than three 
hundred thousand dollars. In 1903 our manufactures 
were worth eighteen millions. In 1907 sugar alone 
brought seven and a half millions. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 303 



23. The Industrial Phase. 

(Continued.) 

Mines and Mining. From 1863 until 1865 mining in 
Utah was an infant in arms. From 1870 it was a 
youth, strong and vigorous, and ten years later it had 
developed into mature manhood. Today it is a giant 
by comparison, and is still growing. The metal out- 
put of the State for 1907 was as follows : 

Gold $11,804,383.33 ' 

Silver 11,406,350.13 

Copper 20,370,596.70 

Lead 7,649,076.38 

Zinc 391,127.49 

Quicksilver 16,875.00 

Total $51,638,409.03 

Output in 1906 40,080,682.97 

Increase $11,557,726.06 

From the beginning of mining in these parts, down 
to the autumn of 1908, the total output of the Utah 
mines represents a money value of about five hun- 
dred million dollars. 

The Principal Camps. The great centres of ac- 
tivity and productiveness at the present time are Bing- 
ham, Tintic, Park City, and Mercur. Important de- 



304 



THE MAKING Ol" A SIWrR. 



velopnients are also in progress in Heavier County 
and in other parts of the State. 

Bingham, surnamed ''The Old Reliable" on ac- 
count of its steady productiveness, is the oldest min- 
ing camp in Utah. It is situated in Salt Lake County, 
about twenty miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Sil- 
ver, lead, and incidentally goM, were mined there 

early in the "seventies," 
when the Winnemucca 
and the Telegraph were 
at the height of their re- 
nown. Some copper was 
also produced, but this 
was long before the un- 
covering of the great 
bodies of the red metal 
that have given to Bing- 
ham a new fame. Since 
vSamuel Newhouse ac- 
quired possession of the 
Highland Boy mine 
(July, 1896), and began 
the development of the 
Samuel Newhouse. copper zone, the old 

camp has undergone a 
complete transformation. Till then only the or- 
dinary processes of mining were employed there : 
now imhiense steam shovels, capable of moving 
seven tons of earth at one scoop, are at work lev- 
eHng down the mountains. The characterizing fea- 
ture of Utah mining today is not in the richness of 
the finds, but in the vast tonnage of copper ores han- 




THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 



305 



died. The prestige of Bingham as a copper-produc- 
ing camp is largely due to D. C. Jackling, a leading- 
mining engineer, whose ideas, practically applied to 
a large area of ground formerly owned by Colonel 
E. A. Wall, of Salt Lake City, have made possible the 
successful handling of these low grade copper ores. 

Beaver County also has immense copper deposits. 
Near the Cactus group of mines stands Newhouse, a 
model mining camp, built by the rich proprietor 
whose name it bears. The recent developments in 
that district and in Bin^j^ham Canyon have placed 
LTah near the top of the list of the great copper States 
of the Union. 

Tintic, eighty-five miles southwest of Salt Lake 
City, is a silver mining 
field, though lead, cop- 
per, and gold are also 
found there. This dis- 
trict is in Juab and Utah 
counties. The first mines 
were located there about 
the year 1870. Later the 
Bullion-Beck and the 
Centennial-Eureka were 
discovered, and both be- 
came great producers. 
Thf Centennial-Eureka 
nov^ holds first place 
among the bonanzas of 
the district. Other not- 
ed properties are the Jesse Knight. 
Eureka-Hill, the Mam- 




20 



;06 



THE MAKING OF A STATE. 



moth, the Gemini, the Grand Central, the Uncle Sam, 
and the Colorado. The principal towns are Eureka 
and Robinson. Knightville is a temperance town, 
founded by Jesse Knight, of Provo, a remarkable 
character among mining men, and one of the wealth- 
iest citizens of the State. Salt Lake City has railroad 
connection with Tintic by a branch of the Denver and 
Rio Grande from Sprin^ville, and by a branch of the 
San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake from Boulter, 
Tooele County. 

Park City, one of the two main silver producing 
camps, is in Summit County, thirty miles east of 
Salt Lake City, with which it is connected by a branch 
of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and by the 
Union Pacific connection of the Oregon Short Line. 
Park City is the home of the Ontario, the Silver King, 
the Daly-West, and other noted mines. The Ontario 




Miners at Work. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 307 

created the town and made it famous. The Silver 
King and other rich properties seem destined to per- 
petuate its fame. The Ontario is one of the deepest, 
and has been one of the most prolific mines in the 
world. It has more than fifty miles of underground 
workings, including a drain tunnel three miles long, 
through which rushes a huge torrent of water drained 
from a large area rich in minerals. Hundreds of men, 
w^ith scores of horses, are employed in the depths of 
the Park City mines, picking, blasting, and hauling 
the glistening galena (silver-lead ore) to the foot of 
the great shafts, up which the tram cars containing 
it are hoisted by means of elevators. These elevators 
are run by steam and electricity. The latter also lights 
the shafts, the tunnels, and the town in general. 
Among the leading mine owners in Park City are the 
Hearst estate, David Keith, and John J. Daly. 

Mercur, in the Camp Floyd district, nearly on the 
line between Utah and Tooele counties, is a gold min- 
ing region, and has been compared with Johannesburg, 
in South Africa. Originally productive of high grade 
silver ores, it is now the heaviest producer of 
gold in Utah. Quicksilver (mercury) is also mined 
there; hence the name — Mercur. The Consolidated 
Mercur is the principal mine. At Fairfield, twenty 
miles from Lehi Junction, a branch of the San Pedro, 
Los Angeles, and Salt Lake connects with the Salt 
Lake and Mercur Railroad, which carries the passen- 
ger over the twelve remaining miles into the heart of 
this noted mining district. Gill S. Peyton was ''the 
man who made Mercur." John Dern is the main fig- 
ure there at present. 



308 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

At Alta, in Little Cottonwood, a mining revival is 
in progress. Marysvale, Piute County, is gold-bear- 
ing ground. Frisco, Beaver County, has the famous 
Horn Silver mine, and at Silver Reef, Washington 
County, rich silver ores are found in the petrified trees 
of an ancient forest embedded in the sandstone — a 
unique geological feature, unparalleled, so far as 
known, in any other mining region. In Washington 
County also are found some of the richest copper ores 
in the State. The Deep Creek country, in Western 
Utah, needs but a railroad to make of it one of our 
most prosperous mining fields.* 

Ore Reduction. In order to separate the metals 
from the rock, the crude ores are reduced and then 
refined. There are two methods of treating ores — 
concentrating and smelting. Concentration is a pro- 



*Mining in Utah may be said to have only just begun. No coimty 
in the State is without minerals of some kind. Sulphur of the purest 
quality, also copper, silver, and gold are found in Millard County. 
Iron County has mountains of the metal for v^hich it was named. 
The coal mines of Summit County have been worked for a genera- 
tion. In Carbon County coal mining is the leading industry. The 
Utah coal mines in 1907 produced nearly two million tons of bitu- 
minous coal, and over three hundred thousand tons of coke. Carbon 
County and the region embraced by the newly opened Uintah and 
Uncompahgre Indian reservations, are rich in hydrocarbons. 
Some of these — such as gilsonite (gum asphaltum) and elaterite 
(a sort of mineral rubber) — are peculiar to Utah. Ozocerite (min- 
eral wax) is found in but one place outside the State. Asphaltum 
is taken from the springs and lakes, also from limestone and sand- 
stone. Mineral oils ooze up from the earth along the shores of the 
Great Salt Lake and in other places, and many oil wells are being- 
sunk in various sections. Underlying reservoirs of natural gas have 
long been drawn upon for domestic uses. Saltpeter, alum, bismuth, 
soda, and other minerals in endless variety are common. Mar- 
ble, onyx, chalcedony, granite, shales, and all kinds of building- 
stones abound. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 



309 



cess by which most of the mineral values in a number 
of tons of ore are condensed into one ton of ore. It 
is done by crushing the mineral-bearing rock with 
iron stamps or in a huge crusher shaped like a coffee 
mill, and then passing it, with water, over shaking ta- 
bles, where the rock is washed away, leaving the 
heavier metallic particles. Ores are smelted in fur- 
naces, where they are mixed with fluxes of iron, silica 
and lime, w^hich cause them to yield readily to the 
heat. The metal product is called matte, and in a 
more refined state, bullion. 

Smelters and Mills. The Utah smelters treat not 
only the product of our own mines, but also ores from 




The American Smelter, Garfield. 



310 THE MAKING-OF A STATE. 

other States. Conditions here are very favorable to 
this branch of industry. Most of the smelters and 
mills are in Salt Lake Valley, which has become one 
of the great ore reducing centres of the world. The 
American Smelting & Refining Company built in re- 
cent years a great lead smelting plant on the site of 
the old Germania, eight miles south of Salt Lake 
City. At Bingham Junction, the United States and 
Bingham Consolidated companies have smelting 
plants, the former for the treatment of copper and lead 
ores, the latter for lead ores only. In Bingham Can- 
yon, the Yampa Smelter, recently enlarged and im- 
proved, treats the copper ores of its own mines ex- 
clusively. The Highland Boy Smelter, a few miles 
from Murray, treated exclusively the ores from the 
Utah Consolidated (Highland Boy) mines in Bing- 
ham Canyon. The largest smelting plant in the Val- 
ley, and one of the largest in the world, is that of the 
American Smelting & Refining Company at Gar- 
field, on the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake. 

Near this great smelter is situated the concentrat- 
ing mill of the Utah Copper Company, which handles 
daily about six thousand tons of copper-bearing ores. 
The same company has a smaller mill in Bingham 
Canyon. The Boston Consolidated Mining Company 
also has a mill near Garfield, with a designed daily 
capacity of six thousand tons. 

Among other smelters in various localities, are 
one at Ogden, and one at Eureka, the latter recently 
built by Jesse Knight. Newhouse has a mammoth 
modern concentrator, and at Mercur stands — cover- 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 311 

in§- ten acres of ground — the Golden Gate cyanide 
mi:l, one of the largest mills of its kind in the world.* 
Smelter Smoke. Copper ores contain sulphur, 
and the fumes from the smoke stacks of the smelters 
that treat this class of ores have wrought serious in- 
jury to the crops in their vicinity. The farmers took 
the matter into the courts, where it was decided that 
the smelters should not treat ores that carried more 
than a fixed percentage of sulphur. The effect of the 
decision was to close all the copper smelting plants 
near Murra}^ and Bingham Junction. 

*The cyanide grocess of treating ores, is thus described by Pro- 
fessor J. H. Paul, of the University of Utah : "In early days at 
Mercur, by the usual amalgamation process of extraction, from forty 
to sixty per cent of the gold was left in the tailings, or refuse ore. 
The ore was crushed and passed over copper plates covered 
with quicksilver, which collected the free gold as the pulverized ore 
was washed over the plates in water. This quicksilver amalgam 
was then heated in retorts, and the mercury was distilled off and 
collected for future use. The gold left behind was made into bricks. 
The cyanide process now used extracts from seventy to ninety-five 
per cent of the gold. As a result claims formerly abandoned may yet 
be alive with industry', the old ore dumps being worked over. 

At the great cyanide mill of Mercur, which treats about eight 
hundred tons of ore and uses six hundred pounds of c)^anide each 
day, this deadly stuff is simply shoveled into tanks of water and 
dissolved. The ore, a soft, yellowish rock, is ground fine and soaked 
for twenty-four hours in the cyanide solution, which dissolves the 
gold. The next thing is to get the gold from the solution, which is 
done by passing the liquid through a series of compartments filled 
with zinc shavings, or into a tank containing zinc dust and stirred 
by a jet of air. The dissolved gold now deserts the solution and 
clings to the zinc. The water is drawn off, more cyanide is shov- 
eled into it, and it is again ready for use. Weak sulphuric acid is 
added to the zinc dust and shavings and they are dissolved ; the zinc 
solution is drawn off, leaving the gold behind in the fine slime. This 
mud is then filter-pressed, dried, ground, mixed with re-agents, and 
melted. The gold sinks to the bottom and is finally run off into 
molds, forming real gold bricks worth from $20,000 to $30,000 
apiece." 



312 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

Railroads. The railroads have well nigh created 
the mining industry in Utah. Without them it would 
have been impossible to develop it to its present gi- 
gantic proportions. Former chapters of this history 
have dealt mainly with the pioneer roads, general and 
local, and with the advent of the Denver and Rio 
Grande in 1883. The company that built that line 
has for many years owned and operated a branch 
from Thistle Valley Junction through Sanpete Val- 
ley and as far south as Marysvale. It has also ac- 
quired or constructed branch roads to Bingham, Tin- 
tic, Park City, and Heber City. 

The Oregon Short Line. The Oregon Short Line 
Railroad Company was organized at Salt Lake City 
in February, 1897. Acquiring possession of the old 
Utah Central, Utah Northerti, Utah Southern, Utah 
Nevada, and Salt Lake and Western, it extended its 
system northward and southward. Now, with its 
western connection, the Oregon Railway and Naviga- 
tion Company, it reaches from Salt Lake City to Port- 
land, and penetrates by numerous branches the farm- 
ing and mining regions of Northern Utah, Idaho, 
Western Wyoming, and Montana. The completion 
of the Yellowstone Park branch during 1908 has 
largely increased the tourist travel through this 
State. 

The Lucin Cut-0£F. A remarkable piece of railroad 
engineering and construction w^as begun in 1902 and 
completed in 1903, on the Southern Pacific (once Cen- 
tral Pacific) line, between Ogden, Utah, and 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 313 

Liicin, Nevada. It is known as the Lucin Cut-Off, 
and is one hundred and three miles in length. About 
a third of it is built on trestle work and lills-in over 
the waters of the Great Salt Lake. Before this sec- 
tion was built, the track curved around the northern 
shore of the Lake, and tr^iins had to climb the long 
grades of Promontory Hill (104 feet to the mile). 
For these climbs, going and coming, helper engines 
were necessary, entailing an expense of fifteen hun- 
dred dollars a day. The Cut-Off not only saves 
this heavy expense, but it shortens the distance 
between Salt Lake City and San Francisco more than 
forty miles. The scheme for the improvement, which 
cost four million dollars, originated with Colonel Col- 
lis P. Huntington, President of the Southern Pacific 
Company, and the plans, perfected after his death, 
were approved by Mr. E. H. Harriman, when he took 
charge of the road. 

The Salt Lake Route. Another important railroad 
event was the building of the line connecting the cap- 
ital of Utah with the principal cities and towns of 
Southern California. Comprising the old Utah 
Southern and Utah Nevada roads (acquired from the 
Oregon Short Line), the San Pedro, Los Angeles, 
and Salt Lake crosses the State line at Uvada, Iron 
County, and follows the early emigrant trail across 
the desert, passing through the great mining fields of 
Southern Nevada. The man whose millions made 
possible this enterprise was Senator W. A. Clark, of 
Montana. The Salt Lake Route has a cut-off between 
Stockton and Lynn Junction, and, as stated, runs 

21 



314 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

branch lines from Boulter to Tintic, and from Lehi 
Junction to Fairfield.* 

Street Railways. It was August, 1889, when the 
first electric cars appeared upon the streets of the 
Utah capital. Within a year the entire system of the 
Salt Lake City Railroad was changed over from horse 
power to electric traction. In 1902 the owners, A. W. 
McCune, Francis Armstrong, and associates, bought 
out the Rapid Transit, a competing system, and 
this consolidation, merging later into the Utah Light 
and Power Company, became known as the Utah 
Light and Railway Company. It was purchased by 
E. H. Harriman in 1906, and improved in 1907 and 
1908. The system covers Salt Lake City and runs 
to Fort Douglas, Murray, and other suburban points. 
Ogden also has an electric street railway. The latest 
development in this line is the Emigration Canyon 
Railroad, built by a company of wliich Le Grand 
Young is president. 

The Telephone. It was late in the ''seventies" 
when Utah first saw the telephone, which, with the 
phonograph, was introduced here by A. Milton Mus- 



*Two new trunk lines are in course of construction— the Western 
Pacific, now crossing Nevada on its way from Salt Lake City to San 
Francisco, and the Denver and Northwestern, which is speeding 
over the mountains toward the Utah capital. Two local lines, not 
before mentioned, are the Salt Lake and Ogden, which parallels 
the Oregon Short Line and the Denver and Rio Grande through 
Davis County; and the Salt Lake and Los Angeles, the original des- 
tination of which was Southern California, though it now terminates 
at the Saltair Pavilion, on the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. 
Saltair is the largest bathing pavilion in the world. It was built 
in 1893. Prior to that time there had been bathing resorts at Black 
Rock. Lake Point, and Garfield, on the southern shore, and at Lake 
Park and Syracuse, north of Saltair. Most of these arc now closed. 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 315 

ser, former superintendent of the Deseret Telegraph 
Line. Mr. Musser gave exhibitions of the wonderful 
])owers possessed by both instruments, at his home 
town — Salt Lake City."^ Since then two great tele- 
phone systems have taken the field, and "quick com- 
munication" by such means is now common all over 
the State. Throughout this once silent region not 
only cities and villages are talking with each other, 
but ofifices and homes by thousands, farms and 
ranches by hundreds, mills, smelters and mines by the 
score, have their telephones. Even the sheep herder 
on the desert lias his telephone, connecting his w^agon 
\\'ith the town. The mine manager not only talks 
from mine to reduction works, but communes from 
the depths of the mine w^ith his family in the distant 
city. What a change from the days of the mail coach 
and the pony express, or even from the early times of 
the telegraph ! 

The Bell Telephone Company began business at 
the Utah capital in 1880, with an exchange of less than 
one hundred subscribers, but it soon acquired pos- 
session of two small isolated plants at Park City 
and Ogden, and between the former place and Salt 
Lake City its first long distance line was opened. 
The Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company, as it 
now exists, was organized in 1883. It has grown into 
a great concern operating numerous exchanges in 
Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. In 1902 there 



"^'The telephone was introduced in February. 1878. Mr. Musser 
held the agency for the Territory. TTe connected Salt Lake City and 
Ogden temporarily, and established several small circuits at the 
capital. 



316 THE MAKING OF A STATE. 

arose a strong competitor — the Utah Independent 
Telephone Company, whose system embraces the 
principal towns and mining camps throughout the 
State. Most of the small plants distant from the cap- 
ital have been absorbed by one or the other of these 
two large companies. 

Electric Light and Power. To our fathers and 
grandfathers, who lived in the days of the tallow dip 
and the sperm candle, and to whom the kerosene lamp 
and the gas jet were revelations of brilliancy in their 
time, the present method of illuminating our towns, 
villages, and homes would have been little short of a 
miracle, could they have foreseen it. In Utah the 
first experiments in electric lighting were made on 
the streets of Salt Lake City, about the year 1880. 
Gas was then being used for street and house light- 
ing. Subsequently the Salt Lake and Ogden Gas and 
Electric Light Company operated gas-making plants 
and steam generating stations in the two cities. In 
1894 a power plant was built in Big Cottonwood 
Canyon, the object being to use the waters of the 
creek for the generation of electricity for lighting, 
heating, and propelling purposes. Eleven years 
later a similar plant was built lower down the 
stream, to furnish power for the Salt Lake City Rail- 
road, which liad been genei-^ating its electric force by 
steam. Next came the Pioneer Power Plant in Og- 
den Canyon (1897). The owners of that enterprise 
obtained a ten years' contract for street lighting in Salt 
Lake City. In' 1897 and in 1901 the Telluride Power 
Company, a Colorado corporation, put power plants 
in Provo and Loe*an canvons, and in 1903 the Utah 



THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE. 31/ 

Sugar Company placed Jne in Bear River, to operate 
in connection with its irrigating- S3^stem. These six 
water power plants, for wdiich the mountain rivers 
have been harnessed, are now furnishing, in conjunc- 
tion with a steam generating plant at Salt Lake City, 
electrical energy to the railwa}- and lighting systems 
and manufacturing institutions of Salt Lake City and 
Ogden. Hundreds of miles of transmission lines are 
used for this purpose. Logan for many years 
has had a power plant of its own, furnishing nearly all 
the electricity consumed by that city. The Telluride 
Company sells a portion of its power to the Utah 
Light and Railway Company, and with the remainder 
supplies the mining camps and other country towns. 



A Final Word. The past of Utah is know^n — partly 
from the story told in these pages. The present is 
an open book, which one may read at will. But what 
of the future — the unborn future ? In what directions 
will the State expand, and what will be the sum and 
crown of its achievements? The answers to these 
questions will be found, first, in the character of the 
people ; second, in the natural resources of this re- 
gion; third, in the vocations pursued and the 
institutions founded and fostered by the inhabit- 
ants of this once empty and desolate land. One 
thing is certain — the beginnings of a mighty empire 
have here been laid, and there is little doubt that the 
superstructure yet to rise will be in every way'worthy 
of the massive foundations. 



318 TH K MAKING OF A STATE. 

Let us not i)e deceived. Iiowever, as to the true 
sources of pow er, as to the real sul)stance of our pros- 
perity. Farms and factories, flocks and harvests, gold 
and silver, railroads and power plants — these are not 
the State of Utah, though they may help to compose 
the commonv^^ealth. They are of the body, without 
which the spirit would be imperfect; while the body 
w ithout the spirit would be dead. The spirit of Utah 
is in the men and women of Utah.' Her true wealth — 
her real prosperity is in the virtue and integrity of her 
sons and daughters. In the character and intelligence 
of the people lie the strength and perpetuity of the 
State. 



"What constitutes a State? 
Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 

Thick wall or moated gate ; 
Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; 

Not bays and broad armed ports. 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 

Not starred and spangled courts. 
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 

No — men, high-minded men. 
With powers as far above dull brutes endued, ■ 

In forest, brake, or den. 
As l)easts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ; 

Men, who their duties know, 
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain. 

Prevent the long-aimed l)low, 
And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain: 

These constitute a State." 



Ind 



ex. 



Address to the People, 251. 
Agricultural College, 231, 284, 292. 
Agriculture, 289, 294. 
Akers, Thomas P., 241. 
Alexander, E. B., 97, 106, 108, 126. 
Allen, Clarence E.. 230, 245, 253, 

262. 
Almost a Famine, 35. 
Amnesty Offered, 228. 
Angell, Truman O., 65. 
Anti-Poylgamy Law, 223. 
Appropriations by Congress, 47, 

263. 
Area of Utah, 47. 
Arid Farming, 291. 
Armstrong, Francis, 234, 314. 
Army for Utah, 97. 
Arsenal Hill Explosion, 210. 
Ashley, William N., 10. 
Auerbach, Fred H., 229. 
Axtell, Samuel B., 208 . 
Babbitt, Almon W., 33, 35, 55, 85. 
Babcock, O. E., 158. 
Bancroft, W. H., 230. 
Barnum, E. M., 241. 
Barter and Exchange, 59. 
Baskin, Judge, 215, 236, 249, 277. 
Battle of Bear River, 140. 
Belated Emigrants, 88. 
Benson, Ezra T., 167. 
Bernhisel, John M., 32, 52, 62, 144. 
Better Days at Hand, 228 . 
Big Elk Chief, 43, 45. 
Bingham Mining Camp, 181, 304. 
Bishop, A. C, 253. 
Black Hawk War, 155. 
Black, George A., 200, 201, 202. 
Blair, Seth M., 48. 



Blake, Dr., 43. 

Bolton, Curtis E., 95. 

"Boom," The, 233. 

Boundaries of Utah, 32, 47, 128, 

160. 
Bonneville, Captain, 10. 
Bonneville, Lake, 3. 
Brandebury, Judge, 49, 54. 
Brannan, Samuel, 15, 19. 
Bridger, James, 9, 10, 19. 
Brigham, Nat M., 246. 
Brine Shrimp, 4. 
Brocchus, Judge, 48, 54, 96. 
Brown James, 22, 40. 
Brown, Arthur, 260. 
Brown, George W., 21. 
Buffington, Joseph, 48. 
Bunker, Edward, 88. 
Burt, Andrew, 205. 
Burton, Col. Robert T., 106, 132. 
Caine, John T., 153, 193, 220, 221, 

236, 239, 243, 244. 
Calder, David O., 191. 
California and Nevada Volunteers, 

137. 
Call, Anson, 53. 

Camp Douglas (see Fort Douglas) 
Camp Flovd, 118, 126. 
Camp Rawlins, 196-198. 
Campbell, Allen G., 210. 
Canneries, 301. 

Cannon-Campbell Contest, 215. 
Cannon, George M., 260. 
Cannon, George Q., 136, 192, 207, 

215, 256. 
Cannon, Frank J., 245, 251, 260. 
Cannon, John Q., 282. 
Carl)on Countv Strike, The, 281. 



320 



rWK MAKING OF A STATE. 



Cardenas, Captain, 8. 

Carlton, Ambrose B.. 219. 

Carrington. All:)ert, 33. 

Carson, "Kit," 9. 

Carter, William. 21. 

Central Pacific Railroad Company, 
165, 221. 

Chamber of Commerce, Salt Lake, 
229. 

Chandlers, Robert C, 180, 246. 

Chipman. James, 253. 

Chislett, John, 89. 

Churches, 187-190. 

Civil War, During the, 137. 

Civil vs. Military Authority, 119. 

Civilians and Soldiers, 119. 

Clark, W. A., 313. 

Clawson, Spencer, 239, 265. 

Clawson, Hiram B., 153. 

Cla3-ton, Nephi W., 301. 

Cleveland, President, 245, 256. 

Climate, 6. 

Clinton, Jeter, 205. 

Clowes, John,' 157. 

Colborn, Judge, 288. 

Colfax, Schuyler, 150. 

Collins, Cyrus, 62. 

Colorado River, 8. 

Columbian Exposition, 246. 

Comstock Silver Mine, 127. 

Connor, Gen. P. E., 137, 140, 141, 
142, 144, 146. 

Conover, Captain, 43, 73, 84. 

Constitutional Conventions, 32, 68. 
136, 206, 218, 230, 250, 251. 

Cooke, P. St. George, 97, 110, 126. 

Co-operative Mercantile Move- 
ment, 182. 

Coronado, Explorer, 8. 

Cotton and Wool 129, 297. 

Council House, 33. 

Counties of Utah, 56, 129, 287. 

Counties and Towns, 66, 67, 289. 

Court Records Found Intact, 114. 

Cradlebaugh, Judge, 120, 121. 

Crickets, 7, 26, 27. 

Crop Failures, 82. 

Crosby, H. R., 130. 



Culmer, H. L. A., 230. 

Cutler, Governor, 284, 287. 

Cutler, Thomas R., 300. 

Gumming, Governor, 98, 113. 

Cvanide Process Description of, 
"311. 

Dallin, C. E., 267. 

Daly, John J., 307. 

Dawson, Governor, 129, 136. 

Decker, Charles F., 57. 

Delegate to Congress, 33, 52, 160. 
193, 215-218, 220, 236, 245, 251. 
253, 262 277 278. 

Delegate's Seat Declared Vacant, 
218. 

Deseret, 31, 32. 

Deseret Agricultural and Manu- 
facturing Society, 60, 295. 

Deseret Iron Company, 60. 

Deseret State Officers, 33. 

Deseret Telegraph, 156. 

Democratic Party, 236, 241, 261, 
277. 

Democratic Delegate, 245. 

Denney, Presley, 260. 

Denver and Northwestern Rail- 
road, 314. 

Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, 
221, 222. 

Dern, John, 307. 

De Trobriand, General, 198, 202. 

Devil's Gate, 110. 

Dickson, William H., 224, 227. 

Dilworth, Mary Jane, 25. 

Dinwoodey, Henry, 229. 

Disfranchisement Proposed, 239. 

Distinguished Visitors, 173. 

Dominguez, Father, 8. 

Donner Party, 11, 20. 

Dooly, John E., 232. 

Doty, Governor, 129, 144. 151. 

Dougall, William B., 157. 

Drake, Thomas J., 142. 

Drama in Utah, The, 64, 152. 

Driving the Last Spike, 169, 175. 

Drouth, Frost and Famine. 82'. 

Drummond, Judge, 55, 94, 96. 

Dunl)ar, WilHam C, 193. 



xi)i^:x. 



Durkee. Governor. 153, 195. 

Dyer, Frank H., 226. 

Earliest Election, 33. 

Early Newspapers, 121. 

East and West Shake Hands. 171. 

Eccles, David, 300. 

Echo Canvon, 11, 20, 105. 

Echo Canyon War, 94, 105, 117. 

Education, 62, 187. 

Educational Controversv, An, 284. 

Edmunds Act, 219, 220, 223, 239 . 

Edmunds-Tucker Act, 223, 239. 

Eldredge, Horace S., 33, 183, 229. 

Electric Light and Power, 316. 

Ellsworth, Edmund. 88. 

Emerson Judge, 221, 

Emery, Governor, 208. 209. 216. 

Emigration Fund, 38. 

Empey, Nelson A., 246. 

Enabling Act, 250. 

Englebrecht Case, 204. 

Ensign Peak, 14, 21. 

Escalante, Father, 8. 

Evenly Developed State, An, 288. 

Exodus from Illinois, 15. 

Exposition Car, 230. 

Extreme Views, 99. 

Fairs,Territorial and State, 61, 295. 

Failure to Elect Senator, 278. 

Farr, Lorin, 167. 

Farming Counties, 289. 

Federal Buildings and University 

Grounds, 263. 
Ferris, Benjamin G., 55. 
Fertile Spots, 5. 
Fillmore, President, 48. 
Final Word, A, 317. 
First Birth in Salt Lake Valley, 22. 
First Dwellers, 7. 
First Federal Officers, 48. 
First Federal Court, 54. 
First Harvest Home, 29. 
First Indian Troubles, 41 . 
First Money, 37. 
First Political Convention, 31. 
First Printing, 37. 
First Postmaster, 56. 



First Regular Mail Service, 56. 

First Schools, 25. 

First State Election, 253. 

First State Legislature, 260. 

First Structures, 22, 25. 

First Territorial Election, 51. 

First White Visitors, 8. 

Fitch. Thomas, 207, 241. 

Flenniken, R. P., 130. 

Folsom, Wm. H., 153. 

Foremost Citizen, 194. 

Fort Bridger, 11, 20. 

Fort Crittenden, (see Ca)np Floyd) 

Fort Douglas, 139, 264. 

Fort Laramie, 19. 

Forty-fifth State, 255. 

Fremont, Capt. John C, 1, 9. 

Fuller, Frank, 129, 130, 144, 207. 
241. 

Fur-Hunters, 9. 

Gardner, Archibald, 40. 

Gardner, Robert, 40. 

General Assemblv, 33, 41. 

Gibbs, Isaac L., 140. 

Gibson, Henry E., 48. 

Gift and Sale of Lands, 236. 

Godbe, William S., 192, 193. 

Godfrey, George L., 219. 

Gold Fever, 36. 

Goodwin, C. C. 128, 239, 245, 267, 
275. 

Goodyear, Miles M., 40. 

Governments and their Purpose, 31. 

Government Troops and Territor- 
ial Militia, 105. 

Government Trains Burned, 106. 

Grant, Captain Frank A., 270, 275. 

Grant, George D., 43. 

Grant. Heber J., 230. 

Grant, Jedediah M., 67. 

Grant, President Ulysses S., 126, 

208, 210. 
Grand Jury Formed, 205. 

Grand River Settlement, 85. 
Grasshoppers, 7, 82, 158. 
Great American Desert, 1, 13. 
Great Basin, 1, 9. 



HE MAKING OF A STA TK. 



Great Basin City, 30. 

Great Salt Lake, 3, 9, 11. 

Great Salt Lake Valley, (see Salt 

Lake P' alley). 
Greeley, Horace, 121. 
Growth of the Colony, 40. 
Growth and Development, 56. 
Guadalupa, Hidalgo Treaty of, 31. 
Guerilla Tactics, 108. 
Gulls, 27. 

Gunnison, John W., 76-79, 164. 
Haight, Horton D., 157. 
Hall of Relics, 268. 
Hall, William C, 237. 
Hammond, James T., 253. 
Hand-Cart Emigration, 86-93. 
Hanks, Ephraim K., 57. 
Harding, Governor, 141-144. 
Harriman, E. H., 314. 
Harris, Broughton D., 48. 54. 
Harris, Moses, 20. 
Harrison, Elias L. T., 192. 
Harrison, President, 243, 244. 
Hart, Charles H., 254. 
Hastings Cut-off, 11. 
Hawley, C. M., 203, 206. 
Hayes, President, Visits Utah, 214. 
Hayes, Mrs. Rutherford B., 296. 
Hayne, Julia Dean, 151. 
Head, Franklin H., 154. 
Hempstead, Charles H., 146. 
Henderson, H. P., 244. 
Heywood, Joseph L., 33, 48, 51. 
Higbee, John S., 40. 
Higgins, Edward V, 254. 
High Prices, 59. 
Hoge, Enos D., 230. 
Holdawav, Shadrach, 298. 
Hooper, William H., 57, 136, 183, 

193. 
Home Industries, 59, 185, 294-302. 
Home Rule and Statehood, 249. 
Home, Joseph, 297. 
Horticulture. 293. 
Hospitals, 187, 188, 190, 227. 
Howell, Joseph, 278. 
Howland, Lieutenant. 43. 
Hudson Bay Company, 57. 



[-lunter. John A., 221, 224. 
Hunting the Bison, 18. 
Immigration of 1848, 29. 
Inaugural Ceremonies, 256. 
Independence Day, 20. 
Indian Episodes, 25. 
Indian Revenge, 77. 
Indian Reservations, 259. 
Indian Tactics, 17. 
Indian Uprising, An, 69. 
Industrial Armies, 248, 249. 
Industrial Phase, The, 288. 
Insane Asylum, 231. 
Ireland, Edwin A., 224, 226. 
Irish, O. H., 154. 
Irrigation, 21, 289-291. 
Irrigation Congress, 280, 293. 
Irrigation Law, National, 281, 290, 

291. 
Isolated Community, An, 35. 
Jackling, D. C, 305. 
Jacques, John, 89. 
Jennings, William, 183. 
Johnson, Jacob, 254. 
Johnston, General, 97, 109, 126. 
Johnston's Army, 98, 116, 118. 
Jones, T. R., 230. 
Jubilee Commission, 265, 267. 
Judd, John W., 227, 237. 
Juvenile Courts, 286. 
Juvenile Rifles, 34. 
Kane, Thomas L., 112, 113. 
Kanosh, 26, 80. 
Kearns, Thomas, 279. 
Keith, David, 307. 
Kiesel, Fred J., 237. 244. 247. 281. 
Kimball. Heber C. 33. 83. 
Kimball. William H., 44. 
Kimball, Hyrvm, 96. 
Kimball. David P., 167. 
King, William H.. 262, 278. 
Kinney, John F.. 55. 130, 144. 
Klingensmith. Philip. 104. 
Knight, Jesse, 305, 306, 310. 
Lands, Distribution of. 289. 
Land Grants, 264. 
Land-Jumping Scheme. A. 232. 
Land Office Opened. 186. 



INDEX 



.sj.s 



Land Question, 39. 

Lannan, P. H., 247. 

Last Spike Driven. 169, 171, 175. 

Latter-day Saints, 15, 38, 187. 

Lawrence, Henry W., 193, 229. 

Lawson, James, 176. 

Legislature, 52. 53, 54. 207, 230, 
239. 292, 298. 

Lee, John D.. 104. 

Liberal Party, 193. 214. 230, 237. 
239, 243. 

Liberal Victories, 237. 

Libraries. Public, 63, 285. 

Lincoln. Abraham. 129, 130, 132, 
147, 148. 

Little, Feramorz, 57. 

Little, Jesse C, 149. 

Little Salt Lake, 4. 

Lowe, George A., 230. 

Loyal League, 230. 

Lucin Cut-Off, 312. 

Lyman, Amasa M., 149. 

Lytic, Andrew, 43. 

McAllister. John D. T.. 205. 

AIcArthur. Daniel D., 88. 

McCartv. William H.. 254. 

McCornick. William S., 229. 232. 

McCune. A. W., 314. 

McGraw. W. M. F., 96. 

Mcintosh, Richard. 246. 

McKean, James B., 203, 204, 205, 
208. 

McLaughlin. D. C. 230. 

McLeod. Norman. 147. 149, 187. 

Maeser, Karl G., 187. 

Magraw, W. M. F., 96. 

Manifesto. President Woodruff's. 
240. 

Mann, S. A., 196. 

Manti City, 45. 

Manual Training and Home In- 
dustry, 59. 

Manufacturing Interests, 294. 

Map of Great Basin, 2. 

Margetts-Cowdv Massacre, 85. 

Marshall .Thomas. 230. 

Martin. Edward, 88. 

Martial Law Proclaimed, 100. 



.Maughan, Peter, 67. 

Maxwell, George R., 193, 215. 

Measures of Defense, 74. 

Mercantile Affairs, 57. 

Merritt. Samuel A., 249. 

Mexican Slave Trades, 71. 

Mexican War, 16. 

Military Districts, 100. 

Military Operations, 73. 

MiHtary Riot, 197. 

Militia Forbidden to Train, 196. 

Militia Organized, 34. 

Millard County, 53. 

Miner, James A., 253. 

Minerals, 308, 311. 

Mineral Springs, 5. 

Mining in Utah, 144, 149, 177-182. 
303. 

Ministering to the Needy, 83. 

Minute ]\Ien, 34, 43, 72. 

Miscellaneous Industries, 302. 

Missionaries and Emigrants, 10. 

Misunderstanding with the Gov- 
ernment, 94. 

Morley, Isaac, 40. 

..xormon Battalion, 16, 22, 36. 

Morris. Elias, 229, 300. 

Morrisites, 133, 143. 

Moses, Julian, 25. 

Mountain Meadows Massacre. 103 

"Move," The, 115. 

Moyle. James H.. 267. 

Murray. Eli H., 216. 217. 224. 225. 

Musser, A. Milton, 157, 314. 

Names of Places Changed, 57. 

National Guard of I tah, 247 (Add 

National Parties in Utah, 241. 

Natural Bridge. San Juan Coun- 
ty, 161. 

Nauvoo Legion, 34. 

Neff, John, 40. 83. 

Nevada, Territory of. 127. 

Newhouse, Samuel. 304. 

New Movement. 192. 

Newspapers, 63, 122, 145. 146. 192. 

Next Arrivals after Pioneers. 22. 

No White Settlers, 12. 

Ogden, Peter Skeen, 10. 



.^24 



E MAKlX(i OF A STATE. 



Old Fort, 23, 24, 29. 

Old Tabernacle, 65. 

Ope-Carry, Chief, 43. 

Opening the Mines. 144. 

Ore Reduction, 308. 

Oregon Short Line Railroad. 312. 

Organic Act, 48, 52. 

Organizers of Utah Central Rail- 
road, 174. 

Ousting the Trespassers. 234. 

Overland Route. 11, 132. 

Overland Stage Line, 122, 132. 

Pacific Railroad, 162. 

Pacific Telegraph. 131. 

Packard, John Q., 285. 

Paddock. Algernon S.. 219. 

Park, John R., 192, 253. 

Patrick, M. T., 205. 

Paul, J. H., 311. 

Pauvant Indians, 76. 

Peace and Pardon, 115. 

Peace Council. 80. 

Penitentiary, 228. 

Penrose, Charles W., 193. 

People Return to their Homes, 
117. 

People's Partv, 193, 214, 230. 239, 
242. 

Peters, George S., 227. 

Pettigrew, James R., 219. 

Peyton, Gill S., 307. 

Pierce, Gustavus M, 189, 200. 

F'oneer City, 29. 

Pioneer Day, 20, 142, 268. 

Pioneer Journey, 16. 

Pioneer Monument, 266. 

Pioneers, The, 14, 266, 267. 

Platte, Crossing the, 19. 

Plural Marriage, 223. 

Poland, Law, 207. 

Political Affairs, 160, 193, 238, 239. 
277. 

Political Parties, 193, 214, 237, 239, 
241. 

Polygamists Pardoned, 240. 

Ponv Express, 123, 125. 

Population, 29, 287. 

Powers, O. W., 238, 244. 



Pratt, Orson, v30. 
Pratt, Parley P., 35. 
Preparing for Statehood, 241. 
Present Status, 287. 
Presidential Appointments, 245. 
President's Proclamation, 255. 
Principal Mining Camps, 303-308. 
Principal Products, 292, 293. 
Proclamation l^v Governor Young, 

72. 
Promontory Summit, 168. 
Prospering in Adversity, 222. 
Provisional Government, 32, 34 

45, 51. 
Provo River Battle, 43. 
Provo Woolen Mills, 185, 299. 
Provost Guard, 146. 
Public Institutions, 258. 
Public Libraries, 285. 
Quaint Advertisements, 58. 
Railroad and Telegraph Asked for, 

61. 
Ramsey, Alexander, 219. 
Railroad Reaches Ogden, 167. 
Railroads, 162, 177, 221. 
Rawlins, Joseph L.. 234, 245, 250, 

257, 263, 279. 
Recruiting Officers, 269. 
Reed, Amos, 144. 
Reed, James F., 11. 
Reed, Lazarus H., 55. 
Reform School, 231. 
Religious and Civil Rule. 31. 
RepubHcan Party, 241. 251. 
Republican Victor^v, 250. 
Rescued by the Gulls, 27. 
Resources of the State, 288. 
Retiring Officers, 54. 
Richards, Charles C. 246, 256. 
Richards, Franklin S., 238. 
Richards, Morgan, 253. 
Richards, Willard, 33, 54, 56. 
Rio Virgen Valley, 6. 
Ritchie, Morris L., 254 
Roadometer, 16, 17. 
Roberts, Bolivar, 232. 
Roberts, B. H., 277. 
Rockwell, Orrin Porter, 140. 



INDEX. 325 

Rognon, E. G, 265. Silver Lake, 99. 

Rolapp, Henrv H., 254. Sinclair, Judge, 120. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 279, 280, 291. Slave Trade, 71. 

Ronndy, Shadrach, 21. Sloan, Edward L., 193. 

Running the Gauntlet, 74. Smelter.s and Mills, 309. 

Rusk, Secretary, 243. Smith, Joseph F., 184. 

Russell, Amasa, 298. Smith, John Henry, 251. 

Sacred Bird, A, 28. Smith George A., 74, 129, 163. 

"Sage Brush Democracy," 236, 242. Smith, Lot, 106, 132. 

Salisbury, O. J., 230, 244. Smith, Harvey W., 246. 

Salisbury, Mrs. O. J., 296. Smoot, Abraham O., 99, 299. 

Saltair Bathing Pavilion, 314. Smoot, Reed, 279. 

Salt Companies, 301. Snow, Zerubbabel, 48, 54, 55. 

Salt, Gift of, 111. Snow, Lorenzo, 67. 

Salt Lake City and Countv Build- Social Hall, 63. 

ing, 21, 235. ' Sowles, M. B., 232. 

Salt Lake Temple, 65. Sowiette, 41, 69. 

Salt Lake Valley, 5, 14, 20, 21. Spanish War, Utah Soldiers Who 
Salt Production, 300. Fell in, 276. 

Sandford, Elliot, 227, 237. Staines, William C, 63. 

Sanpete Valley, 40. Stampede, Description of a, 18. 

San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Stansbury, Captain, 42. 

Lake Railroad, 103, 313. State of Deseret, 31, 45, 136. 

Scanlan, Bishop, Lawrence, 190, State House, Fillmore, 53. 

267. Statehood, Asked for, 33, 67, 135, 
Scarcity of Water and Timber, 5. 206, 218, 230, 249. 

Scenery, 6. Stayner, Arthur, 300 . 

Schools, 187-192. Steele, John, 22. 

Scott, John. 41. Stiles, George P., 55, 96. 

Scott, George M., 238. Storm Follows Strife, 222. 

Sego and Sego Lily, 36. Strained Relations, 143, 146. 

Self Government Preferred, 47. Street, John A., 254. 

Sells, Elijah. 237. Street Railways, 222, 314. 

Sericulture, 296. Strickland, O. F., 203, 206. 

Sessions, Peregrine, 40. Strife and Storm, 214. 

Settlements, Extension of, 56. Sugar Making, 60, 299. 

Settlements Broken Up, 100. Sugar Companies, 300. 

Sevier Lake, 4. Summit County, 67. 

Shaffer, Governor, 195, 197, 199. Surviving Veterans, 266. 

Sharp, John, 167. Sutherland, George, 278. 

Shaver, Leonidas, 55. Tabernacle, Salt Lake, 159. 

Sheridan, General, 196. Tabernacle Organ, 160. 

Sherman, General, 198. Tabernacle Choir, Salt Lake, 247, 
Sherwood, Henry G., 30. 258, 267. 

Shoe Factories, 301. Taylor, John, 33, 60, 209, 300. 

Shoshone Indians, 23, 85. Taylor, Major, 107. 

"Silver Greys," 34. Teasdel, Samuel P.. 229. 

Silver Question, 261. Telegraph, Message, First, 130. 



M6 



HE making; of a state. 



I 



Telephone, The, 314. 
Temple Block, Salt Lake City, 21 
Temporary Appointments, 54. 
Territorial Government, 47. 
Territorial Capital, 52. 
Territorial Library, 63, 285. 
Territorial Laws Set Aside, 203. 
Testing Governor's Proclamation, 

200. 
I extile Industry, 295. 
Thatcher, Moses, 263. 
Theatre Salt Lake, 152. 
Thomas, Arthur L., 217, 237, 243. 
Thurman, Samuel R., 236. 
Tintic War, 84. 
Titus, John, 144. 
Tragedy at Winter Quarters Coal 

Mine, 283. 
Tragic Fate, A, 12. 
Tullidge, Edward W., 192. 
Tuscarora Societv, 244. 
Tuttle, Bishop S.' 188. 
1 wiss, Stephen B., 221. 
Typical Indian Outages, 75. 
Union Pacific Railway, 17. 
Union Pacific Railroad Company, 

165, 221. 
Union Square, 52, 225. 
University of Deseret (see Utii- 

versity of Utah). 
Universitv of Utah. 45, 62. 190, 

225, 264, 284. 
Utah Central Railroad, 173-176. 
Utah Commission. 219. 
Utah "Dixie," 129. 
LTtah Expedition, 97. 
Utah Guards Overland Route. 132. 
"Utah has Not Seceded." 130. 
Ute Indians. 7. 23. 69. 85. 
Utah Lake, 4, 8. 
Utah Light Artillery, 269. 
Utah Northern Railroad. 177. 
Utah Pioneer Jubilee, 264-268. 
Utah Pioneers, 13. 14, 15 16-21. 
Utah Scenery, 6. - ^., 

Utah Territory, 45. 
l^tah Under Martial Law, 94, 100. 
I'tah Vallcv, 5, 40. 



Utah Volunteers, Return of. 276. 
Van Vliet, Captain. 101, 102. 
Van Zile, Philip T.. 221, 224. 
Varian, Charles S., 224. 
"Vast, Worthless Area," 13. 
Vaughan, Vernon H., 200. 
Wade, J. H., 130. 
Waite, Charles B., 142. 
Wall, E. A., 305. 
Wallace, Mrs. George Y., 265. 
Walker, Chief, 41, 69, 73, 80, 81. 
Walker, Joseph R., 229. 
Walker War, 69, 81. 
Wanamaker, Postmaster-General. 

243. 
War with Spain, 269. 
Washakie, Chief, 70. 
Washington Monument. 45. 
Weber Canyon, 11. 
Webster, Daniel, 13. 
Welch, Josiah, 189. 
Wells, Briant H., 270. 
Wells, Daniel H.. 33, 44, 7X 101, 

105, 193 197. 
Wells, Governor, 253, 257, 264. 267. 

282, 283, 288. 
West, Chauncey W., 167. 
West, Governor, 226, 228, 237. 245, 

249. 
Western Confederacy, 138. 
Western Pacific Railway, 314. 
Western Utah Becomes Nevada, 

127. 
What Constitutes a State? 318. 
What the Railroad Brought. 173. 
Whitney. Newel K., 33. 
Whitnev. Orson F.. 265. 267. 
Willie, James G., 88. 
Winder, John R.. 111. 
Widtsoe, John A.. 292. 294. 
Wilson, Alexander. 121. 
Wilson, Ervin A.. 254. 
Woman Suffrage. 196. 239. 260. 
* Woods. Governor. 201. 206. 208. 



*G^e«MRij»%^ was from Or- 
egon — not Mictijg^, as stated on 
page 208, 



241 92 



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